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THE 



CHRISTIAN SYSTEM, 



IN REFERENCE TO THE 



UNION OF CHRISTIANS. 



AND A 



RESTORATION 



PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY, 



AS PLEAD IN THE 



CURRENT REFORMATION, 



BY Al CAMPBELL. 



BETHANY, VA. 

TRINTED BY A. CAMPBELL. 

Published by Forrester & Campbell, Pittsburg , 
1839. 






/yJ 






[COPY-RIGHT SECURED ACCORDING TO ACT OF CONGRESS.] 






PREFACE. 



Since the full development of the great apostacy foretold by 
Prophets and Apostles, numerous attempts at reformation have 
been made. Three full centuries, carrying with them the destinies 
of countless millions, have passed into eternity since the Lntheran 
effort to dethrone the Man of Sin. During this period many great 
and wonderful changes have taken place in the political, literary, 
moral, and religious conditions of society. That the nations com- 
posing the western half of the Roman empire have already been 
greatly benefitted by that effort, scientifically, politically, and 
morally, no person acquainted with either political or ecclesiastical 
history can reasonably doubt Time, that great arbiter of human 
actions, that great revealer of secrets, has long decided that all 
the reformers of the Papacy have been public benefactors. And 
thus the Protestant Reformation is proved to have been one of the 
most splendid eras in the history of the world, and must long be 
regarded by the philosopher and the philanthropist as one of the 
most gracious interpositions in behalf of the whole human race. 

We Americans owe our national privileges and our civil liber- 
ties to the Protestant reformers. They achieved not only an 
imperishable fame for themselves, but a rich legacy for their pos- 
terity. When we contrast the present state of these United States 
with Spanish America, and the condition of the English nation 
with that of Spain, Portugal, and Italy, we begin to appreciate 
how much we are indebted to the intelligence, faith, and courage 
of Martin Luther and his heroic associates in that glorious reform- 
ation. 

He restored the Bible to the world A. D. 1634, and boldly de- 
fended its claims against the impious and arrogant pretensions of 
the haughty and tyrannical See of Rome. But, unfortunately, at 
his death there was no Joshua to lead the people, who rallied 
under the banners of the Bible, out of the wilderness in which 
Luther died His tenets were soon converted into a new state 
religion, and the spirit of reformation which he excited and inspi- 
red, was soon quenched by the broils and feuds of the Protestant 
princes, and the collisions of rival political interests, both on 
the continent and in the islands of Europe. 

While Protestant hatred to the Roman Pontiff and the Papacy 
continued to increase, a secret lust in the bosoms of Protestants 
for ecclesiastical power and patronage worked in the members of 
the Protestant Popes, who gradually assimilated the new church 
to the old. Creeds and manuals, synods and councils, soon 
shackled the minds of men, and the spirit of reformation gradually 
forsook the Protestant church, or was supplanted by the spirit of 
the world. 



Calvin renewed the speculative theology of Saint Augustine* 
and Geneva in a few years became the Alexandria of modem 
Europe. The power of religion was soon merged in debates 
about forms and ceremonies, in speculative strifes of opinion, and 
in fierce debates about the political and religious right of burning 
heretics. Still, however, in all these collisions much light was 
elicited; and had it not been for these extremes, it is problematical 
whether the wound inflicted upon the Man of Sin would have been 
as incurable as it has since proved itself to be. 

Reformation, however, became the order of the day; and this, 
assuredly, was a great matter, however it may have been managed? 
It was a revolution, and revolutions seldom move backward. The 
example that Luther set was of more value than all the achieve- 
ments of Charles V., or the literary and moral labors of his distin- 
guished contemporary, the erudite Erasmus. 

It is eurious to observe how extremes begot extremes in every 
step of the reformation cause, to the dawn of the present century. 
The penances, works of faith, and of supererogation of the Roman 
church, drove Luther and Calvin to the ultraism of "faith alone." 

After the Protestants had debated their own principles with one 
another till they lost all brotherly affection, and would as soon 
have "communed in the sacrament" with the Catholics as with 
one another; speculative abstracts of Christian Platonism, the 
sublime mysteries of Egyptian theology, became alternately the 
bond of union and the apple of discord, among the fathers and 
friends of the reformation. 

The Jive great dogmas of the Geneva reformer were carried to 
Amsterdam, and generated in the mind of James Arminius in 
1591 five opposite opinions; and these, at the synod of Dort, in 
1618, formed a new party of Remonstrants. 

Into Britain, with whose history we are more immediately con- 
cerned, Lutheranism, Calvinism, and Arminianism, were soon 
imported; and, like all raw materials there introduced, were im- 
mediately manufactured anew. They were all exotics, but easily 
acclimated, and soon flourished in Britain more luxuriantly than 
in their native soil. But the beggarly elements of opinions, forms* 
and ceremonies to which they gave rise, caused the "Spirit alone" 
to germinate in the mind of George Fox, in little more than half a 
century after the introduction of the Leyden theology. 

In Lord Chatham's days, the Episcopal church, as his Lordship 
declares, was a singular compound — "A Popish liturgy, Calvin- 
istic articles, and an Arminian clergy." But every few years 
caused a new dissension and reformation, until the kirk of Scot- 
land and the church of England have been compelled to respect* 
in some good degree, the rights of conscience, even in dissenters 
themselves. 

Abroad it was no better. The Saxon reformer had his friendsi 
John, of Picardy, lived in the grateful remembrance of the Geneve*, 
family; and James, of Amsterdam, speculated in a very liberal 
style amongst all the Remonstrants at home and abroad • Xc 



Sweden, Holland, Germany, England, Scotland, the debate varied 
not essentially: the Pope against the Protestants — the Lutherans 
against the Calvinists — the Calvinists against the Arminians — 
the Bishops against trie Presbyters — and the Presbyterians among 
themselves; until, by the potency of metaphysics and politics, 
they are now frittered down to numerous parties. 

While philosophy, mysticism, and politics drove the parties to 
every question into antipodal extremes; while justification by 
metaphysical faith alone; while the forms and ceremonies of all 
sects begat the "Spirit alone" in the mind of George Fox, while 
the Calvinian five points generated the Arminian fire points; and 
while the Westminster Creed, though unsubscribed by its makers, 
begot a hundred others — not until within the present generation 
did any sect or party in Christendom unite and build upon the 
Bible alone. 

Since that time, the first effort known to us to abandon the whole 
controversy about creeds and reformations, and to restore primi- 
tive Christianity, or to build alone upon the Apostles and Prophets, 
Jesus Christ himself the chief corner, has been made. 

Tired of new creeds and new parties in religion, and of the 
numerous abortive efforts to reform the reformation; convinced 
from the Holy Scriptures, from observation and experience, that 
the union of the disciples of Christ is essential to the conversion 
of the world, and that the correction and improvement of no creed, 
or partizan establishment in Christendom, could ever become the 
basis of such a union, communion, and co-operation, as would 
restore peace to a church militant against itself, or triumph to the 
common salvation; a few individuals, about the commencement of 
the present century, began to reflect upon the ways and means to 
restore primitive Christianity, 

This led to a careful, most conscientious, and prayerful exami- 
nation of the grounds and reasons of the present state of things in 
all the Protestant sects. On examination of the history of all the 
platforms and constitutions of all these sects, it appeared evident 
as mathematical demonstration itself, that neither the Augsburg 
articles of faith and opinion, nor the Wesminster, nor the Wes- 
leyan, nor those of any state creed or dissenting establishment, 
could ever improve the condition of things, restore union to the 
church, peaeeto the world, or success to the gospel of Christ. 

As the Bible was said and constantly affirmed to be the religion 
of Protestants, it was for some time a mysterious problem why 
the Bible alone, confessed and acknowledged, should work no 
happier results than the strifes, divisions, and retaliatory excom- 
munications of rival Protestant sects. It appeared, however, in 
this case, after a more intimate acquaintance with the details of 
the inner temple of sectarian Christianity, as in many similar 
cases, that it is not the acknowledgment of a good rule, but the 
walking by it, that secures the happiness of society. The Bible 
in the lips, and the creed in the head and in the heart, will not 
save the church from strife, emulation, and schism. There is no 

!# 



U PREFACE* 

moral, ecclesiastical, or political good, by simply acknowledging 
it bfi word. It must be obeyed. 

In our ecclesiastical pilgrimage we have occasionally metwitk 
some vehement declaimers against, human written creeds, and 
pleaders for the Bible alone, who were all the while preaching up 
the opinions of saint Anus or saint Athanasius. Their sentiments^ 
language, style, and general views of the gospel were as humau 
as auricular confession, extreme unction, or purgatorial purifica- 
tion. 

The Bible alone is the Bible only, in word and deed, in profes- 
sion and practice; and this alone can reform the world and save 
the church.^ 5 Judging others as we once judged ourselves, there 
are not a few who are advocating the Bible alone, and preaching 
their own opinions. Before we applied the Bible alone to our: 
views, or brought our views and religious practices to the Bible, 
we plead the old theme, — "The Bible alone is the religion of 
Protestants." But we found it an arduous task, and one of twenty 
years' labor, to correct our diction and purify our speech according 
to the Bible alone; and even yet we have not wholly practically: 
repudiated the language of Ashdod. We on^r profess to work 
and walk by the rules which will inevitably issue in a pure speech, 
and in right conceptions of that pure, and holy, and celestial thing 
called Christianity — in faith, in sentiment, and in practice. 

A deep and an abiding impression that the power, the consola- 
tions, and joys — the holiness and happiness of Christ's religion 
were lost in the forms and ceremonies, in the speculations and 
conjectures, in the feuds and bickerings of sects and schisms^ 
originated a project many years ago for uniting the sects-, or rather 
the Christians in all the sects, upon a clear and scriptural bond of 
union — upon having a "thus saith the Lord" either in express- 
terms, or in approved precedent, "for every article of faith, and 
item of religious practice." This was offered in the year 1809, 
in the "Declaration and Address" of the Washington Association,. 
Pennsylvania. It was first tendered to the parties that confessed 
the Westminster creed; but equally submitted to all Protestants. 
of every name, making faith in Christ and obedience to him the 
only test of Christian character, and the only bond of church union, 
communion, and co-operation. It was indeed approved by all;, 
but adopted and practised by none, except the few, or part of the- 
few % who made the overture. 

None of us who either got up or sustained that project, was then' 
aware of what havoc that said principle, if faithfully applied, 
would have made of our views and practices on various favorite 
points. When we take a close retrospective view of the last 
thirty years, (for we have a pretty distinct recollection of our 
travel's history for that period,) and of the workings of that 
principle in heart and life, with which we commenced our public 
career in the work of the Lord; we know not how to express our 
astonishment better than in the following parable: — 

A citizen of the West had a very promising young vineyard on 



a fruitful hill. He had no practical knowledge in the cultivation 
of the grape; but had read much and largely upon the dressing, 
pruning, and managing of the vine. He built himself a wine-vat, 
and prepared all the implements for the vintage. But he lacked 
practical skill in using the pruning knife. His vines flourished 
exceedingly, and stretched forth their tendrils on every side; but 
he had no vintage. 

A vine-dresser from Oporto one day presented himself as he 
was musing upon hi3 disappointments. He was celebrated in his 
profession, and the most skilful in all the affairs of the vineyard. 
The owner of the vineyard having employed him to dress and 
keep his vineyard, set out on a long journey for a few weeks* 
On his return and visit to his farm, he walked out one day to his 
vineyard; when, to his amazement, he saw the ground literally 
covered with prunings of his vines. The vine-dresser had very 
skilfully and freely used the pruning- hook, and had left little 
more than the roots and naked stems of the vines standing by the 
frames. 

'My vineyard is ruined! My hopes are blighted! I am undone! 
I am ruined!' exclaimed the unhappy husbandman. 'Unhappy 
wretch! you have deceived me; you have robbed me of the labors 
of five years, and blasted, in one single moon, all my bright 
hopes for years to come!' The vine-dresser stood appalled; butsoon 
as the tempest subsided, ventured to say, — 'Master, I will serve- 
you five years for nothing, if we gather not more grapes and have 
not a better vineyard this year, than you have gathered in all the 
years since you planted these vines.' The proprietor of the vint- 
age withdrew, saying, — 'It is impossible! It is impossible!' and 
visited it not again till invited by his vine-dresser about the 
middle of autumn; when, to his still greater astonishment, and 
much more to his gratification, he found incomparably more grapes 
than hitherto gathered from his vines, and of a much more deli- 
cious quality. 

So in the case before us, the application of the principle already 
stated trimmed us so naked, that we strongly inclined to suspect 
its fallacy, and had well nigh abandoned it as a deceitful specula- 
tion. Time, however, that great teacher, and Experience, that 
great critic, have fully assured us that the principle is a salutary 
one, and that although we seemingly lose much by its applica- 
tion, our loss consists only of barren opinions, fruitless specula- 
tions, and useless traditions, that only camber the ground and 
check the word, so that it is a good measure unfruitful. 

We flatter ourselves that the principles are now clearly and 
fully developed by the united efforts of a few devoted and ardent 
minds, who set out determined to sacrifice every thing to truth, 
and follow her wherever she might lead the way: I say, the prin- 
ciples on which the church of Jesus Christ — all believers in Jesus 
as the Messiah — can be united with honor to themselves, and with 
blessings to the world; on which the gospel and its ordinances 
can be restored in all their primitive simplicity, excellency, and 



3 PREFACE. 

power, and the church shine as a lamp that burnetii to the con- 
viction and salvation of the world: — I say, the principles by which 
these things can be done are now developed, as well as the prin- 
ciples themselves, which together constitute the original gospel and 
order of things established by the Apostles. 

The object of this volume is to place before the community in a 
plain, definite, and perspicuous style, the capital principles which 
have been elicited, argued out, developed, and sustained in a 
controversy of twenty -Jive years ■, by the tongues and pens of those 
who rallied under the banners of the Bible alone. The principle 
which was inscribed upon our banners when we withdrew from the 
ranks of the sects, was, ''Faith in Jesus as the true Messiah, and 
obedience to him as our Lawgiver and King^ the only test of 
Christian character, and the only bond of Christian union, commu- 
nion, and co-operation, irrespective of all creeds, opinions, command- 
ments, and traditions of men* 

This cause, like every other, was first plead by the tongue; 
afterwards, by the pen and the press. The history of its progress 
corresponds with the history of every other religious revolution, 
in this respect — that different points, at different times, almost 
exclusively engrossed the attention of its pleaders. We beaan 
with the outposts and vanguard of the opposition. Soon as we 
found ourselves in possession of one post, our artillery was turned 
against another; and as fast as the smoke of the enemy receded 
we advanced upon his lines, 

The first piece that was written on the subject of the great 
position, appeared from the pen of Thomas Campbell, Senior, in 
the year 1809. An association was formed that year for the dis- 
semination of the principles of reformation; and the piece alluded 
to was styled "The Declaration and Address of the Christian 
Association of Washington, Pennsylvania." 

The constitutional principle of this "Christian Association" 

and its object are clearly expressed in the following* resolution: 

"That this society, formed for the sole purpose of promoting 
simple evangelical Christianity, shall, to the utmost of its power, 
countenance and support such ministers, and such only, as exhibit 
a manifest conformity to the Original Standard, in conversation 
and doctrine, in zeal and diligence; only such as reduce to practice 
the simple original form of Christianity, expressly exhibited upon 
the sacred page, without attempting to inculcate any thing of 
human authority, of private opinion, or inventions of men, as hav- 
ing any place in the constitution, faith, or worship of the Chrisiian 
church; or any thing as matter of Christian faith or duty, for 
which there cannot be produced a 'thus saith the Lord,'' either in 
express terms or by approved precedent." 

The ground occupied in this resolution afforded ample docu- 
ments of debate. Every inch of it was debated, argued, canvassed, 
for several years, in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Ohio. On this 
bottom we put to sea, with scarcely hands enough to man the ship. 
We had head winds and rough seas for the first seven years. A 
history of which would be both cufious and interesting. 



PREFACE. 3 

But to contradistinguish this plea and effort from some others 
almost contemporaneous with it, we would emphatically remark, 
that, while the remonstrants warred against human creeds, evi- 
dently because those creeds warred against their own private 
opinions and favorite dogmas, which they wished to substitute 
for those creeds, — this enterprize, so far as it was hostile to those 
creeds, warred against them, not because of their hostility to any 
private or favorite opinions which were desired to be substituted 
for them; but because those human institutions supplanted the 
Bible, made the word of God of non-effect, were fatal to the intel- 
ligence, union, purity, holiness, and happiness of the disciples of 
Christ, and hostile to the salvation of the world. 

Unitarians, for example, have warred against human creeds, 
because those creeds taught Trinitarianism. Arminians, too, 
have been hostile to creeds, because those creeds supported Cal- 
vinism. It has, indeed, been alleged that all schismatics, good 
and bad, since the days of John Wickliffe, and long before, have 
opposed creeds of human invention because those creeds opposed 
them. But so far as this controversy resembles them in its oppo- 
sition to creeds, it is to be distinguished from them in this all- 
essential attribute, viz. — that our opposition to creeds arose from a 
conviction, that whether the opinions in them were true or false* 
they were hostile to the union, peace, harmony, purity, and joy of 
Christians; and adverse to the conversion of the icorld to Jesus 
Christ. 

Next to our personal salvation, two objects constituted the 
summum bonum, the supreme good, worthy of the sacrifice of all 
temporalities. The first was the union, peace, purity, and harmo- 
nious co-operation of Christians — guided by an understanding 
enlightened by the Holy Scriptures; the other, the conversion of 
sinners to God. Our predilections and antipathies on all religious 
questions arose from, and were controlled by, these all-absorbing 
interests. From these commenced our campaign against creeds. 
We had not at first, and we have not now, a favorite opinion or 
speculation, which we would offer as a substitute for any human 
creed or constitution in Christendom. 

We were not, indeed, at first apprised of the havoc which our 
principles would make upon our opinions. We soon, however, 
found our principles and opinions at war on some points; and the 
question immediately arose, Whether shall we sacrifice our princi- 
ples to our opinions, or our opinions to our principles? We need 
not say that we were compelled to the latter; judging that our 
principles were better than our opinions. Hence, since we put to 
sea on board this bottom, we have been compelled to throw over- 
board some opinions once as dear to us as they now are to those 
who never thought of the difference between principle and opinion. 

Some of those opinions — (as the most delicate and tender buds 
are soonest blighted by the frost) — immediately withered, and 
died under the first application of our principles. Infant baptism 
and infant sprinkling, with all infantile imbecility, immediately 



10 PREFACE. 

expired in our minds, soon as the Bible alone was made the only 
measure and standard of faith and duty. This foundation of the 
Paidobaptist temple being instantly destroyed, the whole edifice 
leaning upon it became a heap of ruins. We explored the ruins 
with great assiduity, and collected from them all the materials 
that could be worked into the Christian temple; but the piles of 
rubbish that remained were immense. 

Other topics became the theme of discussion; and as the public 
mind became more intelligent and candid, the great principles of 
the Law and Gospel, the Patriarchal, the Jewish, and Christian 
Institutions were gradually unfolded. To the development of 
these, other publications in 1816 and 1820 greatly contributed; 
and so fully explored were ancient and modern Christianity, that, 
in 1823, the design was formed of commencing a periodical and 
establishing a press to contend for the original faith and order, in 
opposition to all the corruptions of fifteen centuries. 

As we are not writing a history of this struggle from its com- 
mencement till the present time, but simply informing the reader 
that the principles stated in the following pages have been mature- 
ly considered, and have passed through a long, complicated, and 
vigorous opposition, — we shall hasten to the object of this book, 
which is to lay before the reader a miniature view of the principles 
already noticed. 

To say nothing of the periodicals which have already been 
commenced, and which have been for some time our fellow- 
laborers in this all-important work, beside our debates of 18*20, 
1823, and 1829, four editions of the new version of the New 
Testament, with prefaces, various tables, notes, criticisms, &c; 
there have issued from our press twelve volumes in illustration and 
defence of these principles; in hearing and answering objections 
from all sects, and from many of the most learned and talented of 
our country. 

The Christian Baptist, in seven annual volumes, being the 
first of these publications, and affording such a gradual develop- 
ment of all these principles as the state of the public mind and the 
opposition would permit, is, in the judgment of many of our 
brethren who have expressed themselves on the subject, better 
adapted to the whole community as it now exists, than our other 
writings. In this judgment I must concur; and to it especially, 
as well as to all other publications since commenced, I would 
refer the reader who may be solicitous to examine these princi- 
ples more fully, and to consider the ordeal through which they 
have passed. 

Having paid a very candid and considerate regard to all that 
has been offered against these principles, as well as having been 
admonished from the extremes into which some of our friends and 
brethren have carried some points, I undertake this work with a 
deep sense of its necessity, and with much anticipation of its 
utility, in exhibiting a concentrated view of the whole ground we 
occupy — of rectifying some extremes — of furnishing new means 



PREFACE. II 

of defence to those engaged in contending with this generation 
for primitive Christianity. 

Having also attentively considered the most vulnerable side of 
every great question, and re-examined the terms and phrases 
which have occasioned most opposition and controversy, whether 
from our own pen or that of any of our brethren, — our aim is now 
to offer to the public a more matured view of such cardinal princi- 
ples as are necessary to the right interpretation of the Holy Scrip- 
tures — both in acquiring and communicating a correct knowledge 
of the Christian Institution, of such principles as are requisite to 
the discovery of truth and the exposure of error; as well as in a 
revised and corrected republication of the principal Extras of the 
Millennial Harbinger, to lay before the reader the elements of the 
gospel itself, and of the worship most acceptable to God, through 
Jesus Christ our Lord. 

This work, then, naturally divides itself into three parts: — The 
first, The princieles by which the Christian Institution may 

BE CERTAINLY AND SATISFACTORILY ASCERTAINED! the Second, THE 
PRINCIPLES ON WHICH ALL CHRISTIANS MAY FORM ONE COMMUNION: 

and the third, The elements or principees which constitute 
original Christianity. Whether this arrangement be most in 
the order of nature, or of importance, is not the question; it i9 the 
order in which we have from necessity been compelled to consider 
these subjects. 

A. CAMPBELL. 
Bethany, Va., January 2, 1835. 



12 PREFACE. 



PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 

The present edition substitutes, for the first part of the last, a 
series of essays on the Christian System; and somewhat enlarges on 
the second. The continual misrepresentation and misconception of 
our views on some very fundamental points of the Christian sys- 
tem seem at the present crisis, to call for a very definite, clear, 
and connected view of the great outlines and elements 0f the 
Christian Institution; and more especially with a reference to a 
great question which we anticipate soon to be the all-absorbing 
question of Protestant Christendom, viz. — How may schisms cease, 
and all Christians unite, harmonize, and co-operate in one great 
community, as at the beginning? 

Things ecclesiastic are moving forward to a new issue. The 
Christian system is undergoing an examination in the present day, 
both as to its evidences and signification, wholly unprecedented 
since the days of the grand defection. Such an age is always 
an age of extremes: but things will regulate themselves and 
settle down on the true foundation. "Many are running to and 
fro;" and certainly knowledge is on the increase. 

The Christian system, as unfolded in the following essays, 
would, but for the special essays on the "Kingdom of Heaven," 
"Remission of Sins," "Regeneration," and "Breaking the Loaf," 
have been more systematically and fully developed. Sundry 
points are but meagerly discussed in the new essays, because of 
their recurrence in those elaborate articles which have been so 
often published. We have, indeed, aimed first at giving a general 
view, leaving the important details on the most disputable points 
for those essays. 

Instead of the "Dialogue on the Holy Spirit," so generally read 
and so fully discussed, we have added a few essays on Church 
Order as a part of the Christian system: thus endeavoring to give 
to the book all the chances of being as useful as possible to those 
who are desirous of a more perfect understanding of our attain- 
ments in Christian knowledge. We speak for ourselves only; 
and while we are always willing to give a declaration of our faith 
and knowledge of the Christian system, we firmly protest against 
dogmatically propounding our own views, or those of any fallible 
mortal, as a condition or foundation of church union and co-opera- 
tion. While, then, we would, if we could, either with the tongue 
or the pen, proclaim all that we believe, and all that we know, to 
the ends of the earth, we take the Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing 
but the Bible, as the foundation of all Christian union and commu- 
nion. Those who do not like this, will please show us a more 
excellent way. A. C AMPBE LL. 

Bethany, Va., June 13th, 1839. 



The Christian System. 



CHAPTER I. 



THE UNIVERSE. 

I. One God, one system of nature, one universe. That 
universe is composed of innumerable systems, which in per- 
fect concert move forward in subordination to one supreme 
end. That one end of all things is the sovereign and infi- 
nite pleasure of Him who inhabits eternity and animates the 
universe with his presence. So worship and adore the hea- 
venly hierarchies, saying: — "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to 
receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created 
all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created .* 

II. The universe is a system of systems, not only as re- 
spects the seventy-five millions of suns and their attendant 
planets, which fill up the already discovered fields of ethereal 
space; but in reference to the various systems, separate, 
though united; distinct, though amalgamated; heterogeneous, 
though homogeneous, which are but component parts of eve- 
ry solar system — of every planet in that system, and of every 
organic, and every inorganic mass on each planet. Thus in 
the person of a single individual man, we have an animal 
system, an intellectual system, a moral system, running into 
each other, and connecting themselves with every thing of 
a kindred nature in the whole universe of God: just as we 
have in the human body itself a system of solids, and a sys- 
tem of fluids; and these again forming themselves into a sys- 
tem of bones, a system of nerves, a system of arteries, a 
system of veins, &c. 

HI. Now as no one system is insular and independent, no 
system can be understood abstractly. Every particular sys- 
tem must be viewed in reference to that system which is 
proximate to it in nature and use. Thus we view the bones 
in the human body as connected with the muscles, the mus- 
cles as connected with the nerves, the nerves as connected 

2 



14 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM, 

with the arteries, the arteries as connected with the veins — 
and these all as connected with all the organs of the human 
frame, and with the fluids evolved by them, or circulated 
through them, &e. 

IV. As, then, the systems of the universe and the sciences 
which treat of them, run into each other and mutually lend 
and borrow light, illustration, and development; it is a mark 
of imbecility of mind, rather than of strength; of folly, rather 
than of wisdom, for any one to dogmatize with an air of in- 
fallibility, or to assume the attitude of perfect intelligence 
on any one subject of human thought, without an intimate 
knowledge of the whole universe. But as such knowledge 
is not within the grasp of feeble mortal man, whose horizon 
is a point of creation, and whose days are but a moment of 
time, it is superlatively incongruous for any son of science, 
or of religion, to affirm that this or that issue is absolutely 
irrational, unjust, or unfitting the schemes of eternal Provi- 
dence, or the purposes of the supreme wisdom and benevo- 
lence, only as he is guided by the oracles of infallible wis- 
dom, or the inspirations of the Almighty. Who could pro- 
nounce upon the wisdom and utility of a single joint, without 
a knowledge of the limb to which it belongs; of that limb ? 
without an understanding of the body to which it ministers; 
of that body, without a clear perception of the world in which 
it moves, and of the relations which it sustains; of that 
world, without some acquaintance with the solar system of 
which it is but a small part; of that particular solar system, 
without a general and even intimate knowledge of all the 
kindred systems; of all these kindred systems, without a 
thorough comprehension of the ultimate design of the whole 
creation; of that ultimate design, without a perfect intelli- 
gence of that incomprehensible Being by whom, and for 
whom all things were created and made? How gracefully, 
then, sits unassuming modesty on all the reasonings of man. 
The true philosopher and the true Christian, therefore, de- 
light always to appear in the unaffected costume of humility* 
candor, and docility — 

"He who through vast immensity can pierce. 

Fee worlds on worlds compose one universe, 

Observe how system tnto system runs,"| 

What other planets circle other suns, 

What various beings people every star. 

May tell why God has made us as we are," Topic* 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 15 



CHAPTER II. 



THE BIBLE. 



I. One God, one moral system, one Bible. If nature be 
a system, religion is no less so. God is "a God of order." 
and that is the same as to say he is a God of system. Na- 
ture and religion, the offspring of the same supreme intelli- 
gence, bear the image of one father; twin sisters of the same 
Divine parentage. There is an intellectual and a moral 
universe as clearly bounded as the system of material na- 
ture. Man belongs to the whole three. He is an animal, 
intellectual, and moral being. Sense is his guide in nature, 
faith in religion, reason in both. The Bible contemplates 

man primarily in his spiritual and eternal relations. It is 
the history of nature, so far only as is necessary to show 
man his origin and destiny; for it contemplates nature, the 
universe, only in relation to man's body, soul, and spirit. 

II. The Bible is to the intellectual and moral world of man, 
what the sun is to the planets in our system; — the fountain 
and source of light and life, spiritual and eternal. There is 
not a spiritual idea in the whole human race, that is not 
drawn from the Bible. As 60on will the philosopher find an 
independent sunbeam in nafure, as the theologian a spiritual 
conception in man, independent of The One Best Book. 

III. The Bible, or the Old and New Testament, in Hebrew 
and Greek, contains a full and perfect revelation of God and 
his will, adapted to man as he now is. it speaks of man as 
he was, and also a3 he will hereafter be; but it dwells on 
man as he is, and as he ought to be, as its peculiar and appro- 
priate theme. It is not, then, a treatise on man as he was, nor 
on man as he will be, but on man as he is, and as he ought 
to be; not as he is physically, astronomically, geologically, 
politically, or metaphysically, but as he is and ought to be 
morally and religiously, 

IV. The words of the Bible contain all the idess in it; — 
these words, then, rightly understood, and the ideas are 
clearly perceived. The words and sentences of the Bible 
are to be translated, interpreted, and understood according to 



$6 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

the same code of laws and principles of interpretation by 
which other ancient writings are translated and understood; 
for when God spoke to man in his own language, he spoke 
as one person converses with another, in the fair, stipulated, 
and well established meaning of the terms. This is essential 
to its character as a revelation from God; otherwise it would 
be no revelation, but would always require a class of in- 
spired men to unfold and reveal its true sense to mankind. 

V. We have written frequently and largely upon the prin- 
ciples and rules of interpretation, as of essential importance 
and utility in this generation of remaining mysticising and 
allegorizing. From our former writings, we shall here only 
extract the naked rules of interpretation, deduced from ex- 
tensive and well digested premises; fully sustained, too, by 
the leading translators and most distinguished critics and 
commentators of the last and present century. 

VI. Rule 1. On opening any book in the sacred Scriptures, 
consider first the historical circumstances of the book. 
These are the order, the title, tlie author, the date, the place, 
and the occasion of it. 

The order in historical compositions is of much impor- 
tance; as, for instance, — whether the first second, or third, 
of the five books of Moses, or any other series of narrative, 
or even epistolary communication. 

The title is also of importance, as it sometimes expresses 
the design of the book. As Exodus — the departure of Is- 
rael from Egypt ; Acts of Apostles, Sfc. 

The peculiarities of the author — the age in which ho 
lived — his style — mode of expression, illustrate his wri- 
tings. The data, place, and occasion of it, are obviously 
necessary to a right application of any thing in the book. 

Rule 2. In examining the contents of any book, as re- 
spects precepts, promises, exhortations, &c, observe who it 
is that s-peaks, and under what dispensation he officiates. Is 
he a Patriarch, a Jew, or a Christian? Consider also the 
persons addressed ; their prejudices, characters, and religious 
relations. Are they Jews or Christians — believers or un- 
believers — approved or disapproved? This rule is essential 
to the proper application of every command, promise, threat- 
ening, admonition, or exhortation, in Old Testament or New, 

Rule 3. To understand the meaning of what is command- 
ed, promised, taught &c, the same philological principles* 
deduced from the nature of language-, or the same laws of 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 17 

interpretation which are applied to the language of other 
books , are to be applied to the language of the Bible. 

Rule 4. Common usage, vihich can only be ascertained by 
testimony, must always decide the meaning of any word which 
has but one signification, — but when words have according 
to testimony (i. e. the dictionary,) more meanings than one, 
whether literal or figurative, the scope, the context, or paral- 
lel passages, must decide the meaning-* for if common usage, 
the design of the writer, the context, and parallel passages 
fail, there can be no certainty in the interpretation of lan- 
guage. 

Rule 5. In all tropical language, ascertain the point of 
resemblance, and judge of the nature of the trope, and its 
kind, from the point of resemblance. 

Rule 6. In the interpretation of symbols, types, allego- 
ries, and parables, this rule is supreme: ascertain the point 
to be illustrated; for comparison is never to be extended be- 
yond that point— to all the attributes, qualities, or circumstan- 
ces of the symbol, type, allegory, or parable. 

Rule 7. For the salutary and sanctifying intelligence of 
the Oracles of God, the following rule is indispensable — 

We must come within the understanding distance. 

There is a distance which is properly called the speaking 
distance, or the hearing distance^ beyond which the voice- 
reaches not, and the ear hears not. To hear another, we 
must come within that circle which the voice audibly fills. 

Now we may with propriety say, that as it respects God, 
there is an understanding distance. All beyond that dis- 
tance cannot understand God; all within it, can easily un- 
derstand him in all matters of piety and morality. God, 
himself, is the centre of that circle, and humility is its cir- 
cumference. 

The wisdom of God is as evident in adapting the light of 
the Sun of Righteousness to our spiritual or moral vision, as 
in adjusting the light of day to our eyes. The light reaches 
us without an effort of our own; but we must open our eyes, 
and if our eyes be sound, we enjoy the natural light of hea- 
ven, There is a sound eye in reference to spiritual light, as 
well as in reference to material light. Now, while the phi- 
lological principles and rules of interpretation enable many 
men to be skilful in biblical criticism, and in the interpreta- 
tion of words and sentences; who neither perceive nor ad- 
mire the things represented by those words; the sound eye 

2* 



IS THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

contemplates the things themselves, and is ravished with the 
moral scenes which the Bible unfolds. 

The moral soundness of vision consists in having the eyes 
of the understanding fixed solely on God himself, his appro- 
bation and complacent affection for us. It is sometimes 
called a single eye, because it looks for one thing supremely. 
Every one, then, who opens the Book of God, with one aim y 
with one ardent desire — intent only to know the will of God; 
to such a person, the knowledge of God is easy : for the 
Bible is filmed to illuminate such, and only such, with the 
salutary knowledge of things celestial and divine. 

Humility of mind, or what is in effect the same, contempt 
for all earth-born pre-eminence, prepares the mind for the 
reception of this light; or, what is virtually the same, opens 
the ears to hear the voice of God. Amidst the din of all the 
arguments from the flesh, the world, and Satan, a person is 
so deaf that he cannot hear the still small voice of God^s 
philanthropy. But receding from pride, covetousness, and 
false ambition; from the love of the world; and in coming 
within that circle, the circumference of which is unfeigned 
humility, and the centre of which is God himself — the voice 
of God is distinctly heard and clearly understood. All with- 
in this circle are taught by God; all without it are under the 
influence of the wicked one. 'God resisteth the proud, but he 
giveth grace to the humble.'' 

He, then, that would interpret the Oracles of God to the 
salvation of his soul, must approach this volume with the hu- 
mility and docility of a child, and meditate upon it day and 
night. Like Mary, he must sit at the Master's feet, and lis- 
ten to the words which fall from his lips. To such a one 
there is an assurance of understanding, a certainty of know- 
ledge, to which the man of letters alone never attained, and 
which the mere critic never felt. 

VI f. The Bible is a book of facts, not of opinions, theo- 
ries, abstract generalities, nor of verbal definitions. It is 
a book of awful facts, grand and sublime beyond descrip- 
tion. These facts reveal God and man, and contain within 
them the reasons of all piety and righteousness; or what is 
commonly called religion and morality. The meaning of 
the Bible facts is the true biblical doctrine. History is there- 
fore the plan pursued in both Testaments: for testimony has 
primarily to do with faith, and reasoning with the under- 
standing. History has, we say, to do with facts — and reli- 
gion springs from them. Hence, the history of the past, and 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM, 



19 



the anticipations of the future, or what are usually called 
history and prophecy, make up exactly four-fifths of all the 
volumes of inspiration. 



CHAPTFR III. 



GOD. 



J. "I am that I am." "1 lift up my hand to heaven and 
say, Hive for ever." "The everlasting God, the Lord, the 
Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is 
weary; there is no searching of his under standing. " "His 
understanding is infinite. 1 " "Do not I Jill heaven and earth, 
saith the Lord?" "For thus saith the high and lofty one that 
inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy, i dwell in the high 
and holy place; with him also that is of a contrite and hum- 
ble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive 
the heart of the contrite ones." "I beseech thee, show me 
thy glory, and he said 1 will make all my goodness pass be- 
fore thee; and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before 
thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and 
will show mercy on whom I will show mercy." "And the 
Lord passed by before him* and proclaimed, The Lord, the 
Lord God, merciful and gracious, long suffering, abundant in 
goodness and in truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiv- 
ing iniquity, and transgression, and sin, and that by no 
means acquits the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers 
upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the 
third and to the fourth generation" — "and showing mercy 
unto thousands of them that love me and keep my command- 
ments." "O Lord God of Israel, who dwellest between the 
cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, thou hast made 
heaven and earth. Hear, O Israel — Jehovah our Aleim is 
one Jehovaht — the Lord our God is one Lord." "Holy, holy, 
holy, Lord God Almighty, which wast, and art, and art to 
come." "Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God 
Almighty, just and true are thy ways, thou king of saints." 
Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name, for 
thou alone art holy," "He is the Rock, his work is perfect; 

* Moses, t So reads the Hebrew. Deul. v. 4.? 



20 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

for all his ways are judgment; a God of truth and without 
iniquity, just and right is he." "Glorious in holiness, fear- 
ful in praise, doing wonders." 

II. Such are a few — a specimen of the Divine declarations 
concerning himself; repeated and re-echoed by the purest and 
most intellectual beings in heaven and earth. It is from his 
word and his works we learn the being and perfections of 
God. As we form a character of man from what he says 
and what he does, so learn we the Divine character. "The 
heavens declare his glory, and the firmament showeth forth 
his handy works; day unto dav uttereth speech, and night 
unto nightshoweth knowledge*" Creation reveals the know- 
ledge, the wisdom, and the goodness of God. Providence 
proclaims also his justice, truth, and holiness. Redemption 
developes his mercy, condescension, and love; and all these 
are again characterized by infinity, eternity, immutability. 
Nature, then, attests and displays the knowledge, wisdom, 
power, and goodness of God. The law and the providence 
of God especially declare his justice, truth, and holiness- 
while the gospel unfolds his mercy, condescension, and love; 
and all these proclaim that God is infinite, eternal, and im- 
mutable, God appears before the universe of intellectuals, 
in the threefold attitude of Creator, Lawgiver, and Redeem- 
er; and although each of these involves and reveals many 
of his excellencies, still in each department three are most 
conspicuous. As Creator, wisdom, power, and goodness; as 
Lawgiver, justice, truth, and holiness; as Redeemer, mercy, 
condescension, and love. In each and all of which depart- 
ments, he is infinite, immutable, and eternal. 

III. But the Scriptures speak of his divinity or godhead, 
as well as of the unity, spirituaity, and eternity of his be- 
ing. We have not, indeed, much said upon this incompre- 
hensible theme; for — who by searching can find out God, or 
know the Almighty to perfection? The knowledge of him 
is high as heaven, what canst thou do? deeper than hell, what 
canst thou know? The measure thereof is longer than the 
earth, and broader than the sea. 

IV. Paul and Peter indeed speak of the divine nature in 
the abstract, or of the divinity or godhead. These are the 
most abstract terms found in the Bible. Eternity and divin- 
ity are however equally abstract and almost equally rare in 
holy writ. Still, they are necessarily found in the divine 
volume; because we must abstract nature from person be- 
fore we can understand the remedial system. For the divine 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 21 

nature may be communicated or imparted in some sense; 
and indeed while it is essentially and necessarily singular, 
it is certainly plural in its personal manifestations. Hence 
we have the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit equally divine, 
though personally distinct from each other. We have in 
fact, but one God, one Lord, one Holy Spirit; yet these are 
equally possesssed of one and the same divine nature? 

V. Some conceive of God as a mathematical unit; and as a 
thing cannot be both mathematically singular and plural, one 
and three, at the same time and in the same sense, they deny 
the true and proper divinity of the Son of God and of the 
Spirit of God. But it would seem to us, that they reason 
not in harmony with the sacred style of inspiration. But 
why should we imagine that there cannot be a plurality of 
personal manifestations in the divine nature any more than 
in the angelic or human, especially as man was created in 
the image of God? 

VI, The relations in human plurality are indeed limited to 
three. For while all the human nature was at one time ori- 
ginally and wholly in the person of Adam, it was afterwards 
found equally in the person of Eve — and again in the person 
of their first born. Now as to its derivation and mode of ex- 
istence, it was diverse in the three. In Adam it was underived 
as respected human nature, in Eve it was derived from Ad- 
am, and in Cain it was again derived from Adam and Eve. 
Here the matter ends; for while Eve proceeded from Adam 
in one mode, and Cain proceeded from Adam and Eve in an- 
other, all the residue of human nature is participated with- 
out any new relation or mode of impartation. While, then, 
our nature is plural as to its participation, it is limited to 
three relations or modes of existence. Now as man was 
made in the image of God, we must conceive of him as hav- 
ing plurality, relation, and society in himself — though far be 
it from us to suppose that the divine nature either is, or can 
be fairly or fully exhibited by any resemblance or illustration 
drawn from angel or from man, or from any created thing. 
Still, there is a resemblance between God and the sun that 
shines upon us — between God and an angel — between God 
and man; and even in the mode of his existence, and in the 
varieties of relation and personal manifestation, there is so 
much of resemblance as to peremptorily forbid all dogmatism 
as to what is, or is not, compatible with the unity, spirituality,, 
and immutability of God. But of this more fully and iniek 



22 T3E CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

ligibly when we shall have examined the record concerning 
the word and the spirit of God. 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE SON OF GOD. 



I. "The holy progeny (or thing) which shall be born of thee 
shall be called the Son of God." "Unto us a child is born; 
unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his 
shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsel- 
lor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of 
Peace." "This is my Son, the beloved, in whom I delight." 
"This is my Son, the beloved, hear him." "No person has as- 
cended into heaven, but he that came down from heaven, 
erven the Son of man, who is in heaven," or whose abode is in 
heaven. "God so loved the world that he gave his only 
hegotten Son; the only begotten of the Father, full of grace 
and truth." "No man has seen God at any time; the only 
begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father has declared 
him." "Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, thou art the king 
of Israel." "Glorify thou me with thine ownself, with the 

Slory which 1 had with thee before the world was," "In him 
wells all the fulness of the Godhead* bodily," or substan- 
tially. "He is the first and the last." "All things were 
created by him and for him." "In the beginning was the 
word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. 
All things were made by him, and without him was not any 
thing made that was made." "The world was made flesh 
and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory: the glory as 
of an only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." 

II. So speak the divine oracles of the supreme Deity and 
excellency of the author and perfecter of the Christian sys- 

* The Apostle here uses the word Theotees. Cor. it. 9, which is hut once found in 
the New Testament. We have, indeed, Thei»tees, Rom. i. 20, from the same Apos- 
tle, also found but once; translated "Godhead." We have also Theios, Tkeion, three 
times; once Actsxvi. £9, translated divinity, and by Peter, 2 Eph. i. 3, 4, twice, once 
in connexion xvhhpower and once with nature. "His divine power" — "a divine na- 
ture." "The fulness of the Deity," or Godhead, indicates all divine excellency— &IJ 
the perfections of God. The term Deity imports the divine nature, state, or being of 
O'od. "The fulness' 1 '' of that divine nature is here contrasted with an empty and 
deceitful philosophy, (verse 8,) and the term bodily superadded, shows that God is in 
(Jurist not as he was i n the tabernacle or temple, typically, but substantially, literally, 
and truly. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 23 

tern. "By him and for him" all thing3 were created and 
made; and "he is before all things, and by him all things 
consist." But "he became flesh." Who? He that existed 
before the universe, whose mysterious, sublime, and glorious 
designation was the word of God. Before the Christian 
system, before the relation of "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit" 
began to be, his rank in the divine nature was that of the 
word of god. Wonderful name! Intimate and dear rela- 
tion! The relation between a word and the idea which it 
represents is the nearest of all relations in the universe: for 
the idea is in the word — and the word is in the idea. The 
idea is invisible, inaudible, unintelligible but in and by the 
word. An idea cannot be without an image or a word to re- 
present it — and therefore God was never without his word, 
nor was his word without him. "The word was with God, 
and the word was God" — for a word is the idea expressed — 
and thus "the word that was made flesh," became "the bright- 
ness of his glory" and the express image of his person," inso- 
much that "he who has seen the Son has seen the Father also.^ 

III. While, then, the phrase "Son of God" denotes a tem- 
poral relation, the phrase "the word of God" denotes an eter- 
nal, unoriginated relation. There was a word of God from 
eternity, but the Son of God began to be in the days of Au- 
gustus Cesar. "Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten 
thee." He was by his resurrection from the dead declared 
to be the Son of God with a power and evidence extraordina- 
ry and divine. The word incarnate or dwelling in human 
flesh, is the person called our Lord and Redeemer, Jesus 
Christ — and while, in the system of grace, the Father is the 
one Godwin all the supremacy of his glory — Jesus is the one 
Lord in all the divine fulness of sovereign, supreme, and 
universal authority. The Lord God of Shem, of Abraham, 
Isaac and Jacob, is the God and the Lord of Christians: for 
"the child" that has been born to us — and "the son" that has 
been given, according to another prophet, came from eterni- 
ty. "His goings forth have been from of old from everlast- 
ing."* Such is the evangelical history of the author of the 
Christian system as to his antecedent nature and relation in 
the Deity or Godhead. 

IV. He became a true and proper "Son of Man," "A 
body hast thou prepared me." But the "me" was before "the 
body." It dwelt forever in "the bosom of the Father." "I 



* Micah v, 2. 



24 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM* 

came forth from God," said "the incarnate Word." Great 
beyond expression and "without controversy, great i3 the 
mystery — the secret of godliness." "God was manifest in 
the flesh." "He that has seen me has seen the Father also." 
The Son of Man was and is the Son of God — "Emanuel 
God with us." Adored be his name! The one God in the 
person of the Father, has commanded all men to worship and 
honor the one Lord, as they would honor him that sent him: 
for now in glorifying the Son, we glorify the Father that sent 
him and that dwells in him. "Know ye not that I am in 
the Father, and the Father in me." Thus spake our Lord 
Jesus Christ. 



CHAPTER V. 



THE SPIRIT OP GOD. 



1. As there is man and the spirit of man, so there is God 
and the spirit of God. They are capable of a separate and 
distinct existence. "What man knoweth the things of a 
man," says Paul, "but the spirit of man that is in him; even 
so the things of God knoweth no man but the spirit of God." 
There is in this case an image of God in man — not indeed, 
an exact image, but an image j for as Paul says of the law, 
so say we of man; "For the law had a shadow, (a resem- 
blance) of good things to come, and not the very (or exact) 
image of the things." So man was made an image of God, 
though not the exact image — the active power of man is in 
his spirit: so John the Baptist came in the power of Elijah, 
because he came in his spirit. The spirit of God is therefore 
often used for his power; though it is not an impersonal 
power, but a living, energizing, active, personal existence. 
Hence, in all the works of God, the spirit of God is the ac- 
tive, operating agent. Thus in the old creation, while an- 
cient chaos yet remained — when "the earth was without form, 
and void, and darkness brooded on the bosom of the vast 
abyss," "the spirit of God moved" — (incubated and ener- 
gized) — "upon the face of the waters." "The hand of the 
Lord has made me, and the spirit of the Almighty has given 
me life." "The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 25 

power of the Highest shall overshadow thee;" and thus was 
chaos subdued, man vitalized, "the heavens garnished," 
and the body of Jesus made by the spirit of God. 

II. The Spirit is said to do, and to have done all that God 
does and all that God has done. It has ascribed to it all di- 
vine perfections and works; and in the New Testament it is 
designated as the immediate author and agent of the new 
creation, and of the holiness of Christians. It is therefore 
called the Holy Spirit. In the sublime and ineffable rela- 
tion of the Deity or godhead, it stands next to the Incarnate 
Word.. Anciently, or before time, it was God, the Word of 
God, and the Spirit of God. But now in the development 
of the Christian scheme, it is "the Father, the Son, and 
the Holy Spirit" — one God, one Lord, one Spirit. To us 
Christians, there is, then, but one God, even the Father; and 
one Lord Jesus Christ, even the Saviour; and one Spirit, 
even the Advocate, the Sanctifies and the Comforter of 
Christ's body, the church. Jesus is the head, and the Spi- 
rit is the life and animating principle of that body. 

III. The whole systems of creation, providence, and re- 
demption, are founded upon these relations in the Deity. 
Destroy these, blend and confound these, and nature, provi- 
dence, and grace, are blended, confounded, and destroyed,, 
The peerless and supreme excellency of the Christian sys- 
tem, is, that it fully opens to the vision of mortals the Divi- 
nity—the whole Godhead employed in the work of man's 
regeneration and ultimate glorification. God is manifest in 
human flesh, and is justified and glorified by the Spirit, in 
accomplishing man's deliverance from ruin. Each name 
of the sacred three has its own peculiar work and glory in 
the three great works of Creation, Government, and Redemp- 
tion. Hence, we are by divine authority, "immersed into 
the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit," 
in coming into the kingdom of grace; and while in that 
kingdom the supreme benediction is — "The Grace of the 
Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion 
of the Holy Spirit be with you*" Indeed in the old church 
that was in the wilderness, while matters were compara- 
tively in the shadows of a moonlight age, the high priest 
of Israel was commanded to put "the name of God" upon 
the children of Israel — in the same relation of the sacred 
three, "The Lord* bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make 

* In the Hebrew Bible it is Jehovah each time. 



28 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM, 

his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee. The 
Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee 
peace, 1 "* Jehovah bless thee — is equal to "the love of God. n 
Jehovah be gracious unto thee, answers to "the grace of our 
Lord Jesus Christ" — and Jehovah lift up his countenance 
upon thee and give thee peace, corresponds to "the commu- 
nion of the Spirit." 

IV. The divine doctrine of these holy and incomprehen- 
sible relations in the Divinity, is so inwrought and incorpo- 
rate with all the parts of the sacred books — so identified 
with all the dispensations of religion, and so essential to the 
mediatorship of Christ, that it is impossible to make any 
real and divine proficiency in the true knowledge of God — - 
of man — of reconciliation — of remission of sins — of eter- 
nal life— or in the piety and divine life of Christ's religion-— 
without a clear and distinct perception of it, as well as a 
firm and unshaken faith and confidence in it, as we trust 
still to make more evident in the sequel. 



CHAPTER VI. 



MAN AS HE WAS. 



I. The original man was the rational and moral ultima- 
ram of the mundane system. Naturally, or as he came 
from God's hand, he was the perfection of all terrestrial cre- 
ations and institutions. In the elements of his constitution, 
he was partly celestial and terrestrial, of an earthly material 
as to his body, but of a spiritual intelligence and a divine 
life. Made to know and to enjoy his Creator, and to have 
communion with all that is divine, spiritual, and material in 
the whole universe, he was susceptible of an almost bound- 
less variety of enjoyments. 

II. And God said, "Let us make man in our image, after 
our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of 
the sea, and the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over 
all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepetb 
upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in 

* Numbers vi. 24-28, 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 27 

his own image created he him; a male and a female created 
he them." Gen. i. 26, 27. Man, then, was a companion 
for his Father and Creator, capable of admiring, adoring, 
and enjoying God. Having made the earth for him, God 
was fully glorified in all his sublunary works, when they 
made man happy, grateful, and thankful to himself. Man, 
then, in his natural state, was not merely an animal, but an 
intellectual, moral, pure, and holy being. 

III. His position or state in this creation, was that of a 
lord tenant The earth is, indeed, the Lord's; but he gave it 
to man on a very easy and liberal lease; and so it became 
his property. He was, therefore, a free and responsible agent, 
capable of managing his estate and paying his rent; and 
consequently was susceptible of virtue and of vice, of hap- 
piness and misery. In order to freedom, virtue, and happi- 
ness, it was expedient and nscessary to place him under a 
jaw; for where there is no law, there can be no liberty, vir- 
ile, or happiness. The law became a test of his character,, 

a guarantee of his continued enjoyment of the life and pro- 
perty which God had leased to him on the condition of Lis 
obedience to that precept. 

IV. That the temptation to disobedience might be weak, 
and the motive to obedience strong, single, and pure, the 
precept given here was simple, positive, and clear. It could 
not be a moral precept, because other reasons than simple 
submission to the will of his Lord and King might have co- 
operated and prevented that display of pure loyalty by 
which his character was to be tried and his future fortunes 
governed. It was therefore a positive law. The requisi- 
tion was so little as to present the least conceivable restraint 
upon liberty of thought and of action, and yet it was the 
most infallible test of his loyalty. The Adamic constitu- 
tion was therefore admirably designed and adapted to hap- 
piness. It placed only one restriction in the way of univer- 
sal liberty, and that at such a distance as to make the circle 
of his free and unrestrained movements within a single step 
of the last outpost of all intellectual, moral, and sensible 
enjoyment. The whole earth was his to use , one single fruit 
alone excepted. Truly, God was superlatively good and 
kind to man in his peculiar constitution and state. "Thou 
madest him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned 
him with glory and honor. Thou madest him to have do- 
minion over the works of thy hands. Thou hast put all 
things under his feet: — all sheep and oxen, yea, and the 



28 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM, 

beasts of the field, the fowls of the air, and the fish of the 
sea, and whatsoever passes through the paths of the sea. O 
Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth 1" 
Ps. viii. 5-9. 



CHAPTER VI. 



MAN AS HE IS. 



i. "God made man upright, but they have sought out many 
inventions." Adam rebelled. The natural man became 
preternatural. The animal triumphed over the human ele- 
ments of his nature. Sin was born on earth. The crown 
fell from his head. The glory of the Lord departed from 
him. He felt his guilt and trembled, he saw his nakedness 
and blushed. The bright candle of the Lord became a dimly 
smoking taper. He was led to judgment. He was tried 3 
condemned to death, divested of his patrimonial inheritance, 
but respited from immediate execution. A prisoner of 
death, but permitted to roam abroad and at large till the 
King authorized his seizure and destruction. 

II. The stream of humanity, thus contaminated at its 
fountain, cannot in this world ever rise of itself, to its primi- 
tive purity and excellence. We ail inherit a frail constitu- 
tion, physically, intellectually, but especially morally frail 
and imbecile. We have all inherited our father's constitu- 
tion and fortune: for Adam, we are told, after he fe\\, "begat 
a son in his own image" and that son was just as bad as any 
other son ever born into the world: for he murdered his own 
dear brother, because he was a better man than himself 
"Thus, by one man sin entered into the world, and death by 
that one sin, and so death, the wages of sin, has fallen upon 
all the offspring of Adam," because in him they have all 
sinned, or been made mortal — and consequently are born 
under condemnation to that death which fell upon our com- 
mon progenitor, because of his transgression.^ 

III. In Adam all have sinned; therefore "in Adam all 
die." Your nature, gentle reader, not your person, was in 
Adam when he put forth his hand to break the precept of Je- 
hovah. You did not personally sin in that act; but yowt 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 20 

nature then in the person of your father, sinned against the 
Author of your existence. In the just judgment, therefore, 
of your heavenly Father, your nature sinned in Adam, and 
with him it is right, that all human beings should be born 
mortal, and that death should lord it over the whole race as 
he has done in innumerable instances even "over them that 
have not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgres- 
sion;" i. e., by violating a positive law. Now it must be 
conceded, that what God can righteously and mercifully 
inflict upon a part of mankind, he may justly and merci- 
fully inflict upon all ; and therefore those that live one score 
or four score years on this earth, for the sin of their nature 
in Adam, might have been extinguished the first year as rea- 
sonably as those who have in perfect infancy perished from 
the earth. Death is expressly denominated by an Apostle^ 
"the wages of sinP Now this reward of sin is at present 
inflicted upon at least one fourth of the human race who 
have never violated any law, or sinned personally by any 
act of their lives. According to the most accurate bills of 
mortality, from one third to one fourth of the whole progeny 
of man die in infancy, under two years, without the con- 
sciousness of good or evil. They are thus, innocent though 
they be, as respects actual and personal transgression, ac- 
counted as sinners by him who inflicts upon them the pecu- 
liar and appropriate wages of sin. This alarming and most 
strangely pregnant of all the facts in human history, proves 
that Adam was not only the common father, but the actual 
representative of all his children. 

IV. There i9, therefore, a sin of our nature as well as 
personal transgression. Some inappositely call the sin of 
our nature our "original sin;" as if the sin of Adam was 
the personal offence of all his children. True, indeed it is,, 
our nature was corrupted by the fall of Adam before it was 
transmitted to us; and hence, that hereditary imbecility to 
do good, and that proneness to do evil, so universally appa- 
rent in all human beings. Let no man open his mouth 
against the transmission of a moral distemper, until he sat- 
isiactorily explain the fact — that the special characteristic 
vices of parents appear in their children as much as the 
color of their skin, their hair, or the contour of their faces. 
A disease in the moral constitution of man is as clearly 
transmissable as any physical taint, if there be any truth in 
history, biography, or human observation. 

V. Still man, with all his hereditary imbecility, is not ira* 

3* 



30 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM, 

der mi invincible necessity to gin. Greatly prone 
evil, easily seduced into transgression, he mayor may not 
yield to passion and seduction. Hence the differences we 
so often discover in the corruption and depravity of man. 
All inherit a fallen, consequently a sinful nature; though 
ail are not equally depraved. Thus we find the degrees of 
sinfulness and depravity are very different in different per- 
sons, And although without the knowledge of God and his 
revealed- will, without the interposition of a mediator, and 
without, faith in him, "it is impossible to please God;" still, 
there are those who, while destitute of this knowledge and 
belief, are more noble and virtuous than others. Thus admits 
Luke when he says, "The Jews in Berea were more noble 
than those in Theasalonica, in that they received the word 
with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily 
whether these things were so. Therefore many of them be- 
lieved/' Acts xvii. 11. But until man in his present pre- 
ternatural state, believes the gospel report of his sins and 
submits to Jesus Christ as the only Mediator and Saviour of 
sinners, it is is impossible for him to do any thing absolutely 
pleasing or acceptable to God, 

VI. Condemned to natural death, and greatly fallen and 
depraved in our whole moral constitution though we cer- 

ly are, in consequence of the sin of Adam; still, because 
of the interposition of the second Adam, none are punished 
with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord., 

those who actually and voluntarily sin against a dispen- 
sation of mercy under which they are placed: for this is 
"the condensation of the world that light has come into the 
world, and men choose darkness rather than the Mght ? be- 
l&e iheir deeds are evil." 



CHAPTER VIII. 



THE PURPOSES OF GOD CONCERNING MAN, 



1. The universe issued from the goodness of God. Not 
to display his power and wisdom, but to give vent to his 
benignity, God created the heavens and the earth, and 
peopled them with all variety of being. Infinite wisdom 



THE CHRTSTIAN SYSTEM. 31 

and almighty power did but execute the designs of eternal 
love. Goodness is the impulsive attribute which prompted 
all that the counsel and hand of the Lord have executed. 
The current of the universe all runs on the side of benevo- 
lence, "Abundant in goodness and truth," all God's designs 
are for the diffusion of bliss on the largest possible scale. 
Evil there is; but, under the benevolent administration of 
the Father of mercies, there will be as much good, with as 
little evil, as almighty power, guided by infinite wisdom, can 
achieve. 

II. We may conjecture much, but can know little of the 
origin of moral evil in God's dominions, its history on 
earth is faithfully detailed in the Bible; and that, in the 
divine prudence, is all that is necessary to our successful 
warfare against its power, and blissful escape from its penal 
consequences. It is not necessary that we should analyze 
and comprehend the origin and nature of darkness in order 
to enjoy the light of the sun. The influences of light and 
darkness upon our system are quite sufficient, without any 
theory, to induce us to eschew the former, and delight in the 
latter. "By one man sin entered into the world," says 
Paul ; and by one tempter sin entered into man, says Moses; 

u hist when it conceives brings forth sin, and sin when 
it is perfected brings forth death," says James the Apostle, 
and these are the land-marks of all our knowledge of the 
matter. r 

III. To limit the contagion of sin, to prevent its recurrence 
in any portion of the universe, and to save sinners from its 
ruinous consequences, are the godlike purposes of the com- 
mon Father of all. The Gospel, or Christian system, is that 
only scheme which infinite intelligence and almighty love 
could devise for that benignant and gracious end This 
purpose, like all God's purposes, is eternal and immutable, 
The scheme or theory was, therefore, not only arranged be- 
fore the Jewish and patriarchal ages, but before the founda- 
tion of the world, 

IV. The promises made to Eve, to Noah, Abraham, Isaac, 
Jacob, Judah, David, &c. are positive proofs that the plan 
was laid and the purposes perfected before the world began. 
Far why, we ask, could God promise the conquest of Satan 
by the son of Eve, the blessing of all nations, by the son of 
Abraham, &c. &c. if a scheme of this import had not been 
previously established? The moment that Adam, Eve, and 
the serpent were judged dates the first promise of a glorious 



32 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

conquest over our adversary by a descendant of Eve. That 
promise, and the consequent institution of sacrifice — the 
altar, the victim, and the priest, are ample proofs that the 
plan was completed and a remedial system adopted antece- 
dent to the trial of our first parents. 

V. But this is not to be inferred even from premises clear 
and forcible as these are. It is expressly and repeatedly 
declared. Two things are evident as demonstration itself:— 
The first,— that all the purposes and promises of God are in 
Christ — in reference to him, and consummated in and by 
him; and, in the second place, they were all contemplated, 
covenanted, and systemized in him and through him before 
the foundation of the world. These two propositions are so 
intimately connected, that they are generally asserted in the 
same portions of scripture. For example: "He hath saved 
us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our 
works, but according to his own purpose and grace which 
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began; but is 
now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus 
Christ.'" 2 Tim. i. 9. Again, "Paul an Apostle of Jesus 
Christ, in hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, 
'promised before the world began; but hath in due time 
manifested his word through preaching." Titus i. 1, 2.* "He 
has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that 
we should be holy and without blame before him in love." 
Eph. i. 4. Indeed, Jesus himself intimates that the whole 
affair of man's redemption, even to the preparation of the 
eternal abodes of the righteous, was arranged ere time was 
born : for, in hi3 own parable of the final judgment, he says, 
•'Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit a kingdom pre- 
pared for you from the foundation of the world" Malth. 
xxv. 34. And Peter settles the matter forever by assuring 
us that we "were redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, 
as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, who verily 
was foreordained before the foundation of the world." Christ, 
then, is the Lamb that was foreordained, and "slain from 
the foundation of the world." Therefore, says Jesus to his 
Father, speaking doubtless in contemplation of his work, 

* In the original the phrase in these two passages is.pro chranoon aionicon, trans- 
lated sometimes, ^'before the timesofihe ages'" — before the Jewish jubilees or ages 
began; and means that God's par pose to call the Gentiles was antecedent to the 
covenants with Abraham and the Jews. Thus understood, it only proves that the 
jmrposesand promises of God in Christ were formed and expressed before the days 
of Abraham. But it. is equally true as respects the beginning of time: for the phrase 
pro and apo Itat.abole koemou., found ten times in tho New Testament, literally 
indicates the foundation of the world. We quote Eph I. 4. — JMatth. xxv. 34.— 
I Peter i. 19.— as unequivocally declarative of this. 



THE CHRISTIAN StSTEM, 33 

Ci Thou loved3t me before the foundation of the world f* and 
thus, as Matthew quotes a Prophet speaking of him, "he 
uttered things which had been kept secret from the founda- 
tion of the world." 

VJ. Evident then it is, that the whole remedial or gospel 
system was purposed, arranged, and established upon the 
basis of the revealed distinctions of Father, Son, and Holy 
Spirit; and by these, in reference to one another, before the 
foundation of the world; and that all the institutions and 
developments of religion in the different ages of the world, 
were, in pursuance of that system, devised in eternity, and 
consummated some two thousand years ago. 

VIJ. Jesus of Nazareth, the promised Messiah, was elect- 
ed, or rather, was always the elect, the beloved of God, and 
appointed to be the foundation of this new creation. "Be- 
hold," said Jehovah seven centuries before his birth, "I lay 
in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious 
corner, a sure foundation," called by Peter "an elect stone," 
though disallowed by the Jewish buiJders. Again, by the 
same Prophet he is called the elect of God: "Behold my 
servant whom 1 uphold, mine elect in whom my soul de- 
lights! 1 have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth 
judgment to the Gentiles," &c. "He shall be for salvation 
to the ends of the earth." 

VIII. In consequence of these gracious purposes of God, 
the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us — the Son of 
God was sent by his Father — became a Prophet, a High 
Priest, and a King over men, that he might be the mediator 
arid administrator of an Institution of Grace. He became 
the righteous servant of Jehovah, a voluntary sacrifice for 
us— died, was buried, and rose again — ascended where he 
had been before — then, in union with his Father, sent the 
Holy Spirit, who proceeded forth from the presence and by 
the authority of the Father and the Son, to consummate the 
sanctification of his people. He is now placed upon the 
throne of God — head overall things to complete the triumphs 
of his cause — to lead many sons to glory — to raise the dead, 
judge the world, and revenge Satan and all that took part 
with him in his rebellion, whether angels or men — to create 
new heavens and a new earth, and to establish eternal 
peace, and love, and joy through all the new dominions 
which he shall have gained, and over which he shall have 
reigned: for he must reign till all his and our enemies shall 
have been subdued forever. Then he shall resign into the 



34 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

hands that gave him this empire, all that species of author- 
ty which he exercised in this great work of human deliver- 
ance. Then God himself, in his antecedent character and 
glory, as he reigned before sin was born and this adminis- 
tration began, shall preside over ail things in all places for 
ever and ever. 

IX. The present elect of God are, then, those who are in 
Christ, and not those out of him : for it was in him that God 
has set his affection upon them, and chose them to eternal 
life before the world began. God is not, indeed, in this 
whole affair a respecter of persons. It is at character, and 
not at person, that God looks. He has predestinated all that 
are in Christ "to be holy and without blame before him in 
love," and, at his coming, to be conformed to him in all per- 
sonal excellency and beauty, and to share with him the bliss 
of a glorious immortality. So that "we shall be like him' 5 
— he the first born, and we his junior brethren, bearing his 
image in our persons as exactly as we now bear the image 
of the earthly Adam, the father of us all. 

X. In all these gracious purposes of God, two things are 
most remarkable: — First, that he has elected and called 
certain persons to high and responsible stations as parts of a 
grand system of practical philanthropy — such as Abraham, 
Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Aaron, Joshua, David, Paul, 
&c. &c. These were chosen and elevated not for their own 
sakes, so much as for public benefactors and blessings to the 
human race, it is not for its own sake that the eye is so 
beautiful, or performs the functions of vision; nor that the 
ear is so curiously fashioned, and performs the office of hear- 
ing; but for the general comfort, and safety of the whole 
body. So stand in the family of God — in the body of Christ, 
all apostles, prophets, preachers, reformers, and all specially 
called and chosen persons. As the Lord said to Saul of 
Tarsus, so may it be said of all those sons of oil — those elect 
ones — "I have appeared to you to make you a minister and 
a witness for me— to send you to the Gentiles," &c. — to 
malce you a public benefactor. Next to this remarkable fact 
is another still more remarkable; — that, according to the 
purposes of God in reference to the whole human race, things 
are so arranged and set in order that all enjoyments shall 
be, as respects, human agency, conditional; and that every 
man, in reference to spiritual and eternal blessings, shall 
certainly and infallibly have his own choice. Therefore, 
life and death, good and evil, happiness and misery, are 



THE CHRISTIAX SYSTEM. 35 

placed before man as he now is, and he is commanded to 
make his own election and take his choice. Having chosen 
the good portion, he is then to "give all diligence to make 
his calling and election sure." 



CHAPTER IX. 



RELIGION FOR MAN, AND NOT MAN FOR RELIGION. 



I. Religion, as the term imports, began after the Fail; for 
it indicates a previous apostacy. A remedial system is for 
a diseased subject. The primitive man could love, wonder., 
and adore, as angels now do, without religion; but man v 
fallen and apostate, needs religion in order to his restoration, 
to the love, and worship, and enjoyment of God. Religion, 
then, is a system of means of reconciliation — an institution 
for bringing man back to God — something to bind man anew 
to love and delight in God.* 

II. It consists of two departments; — the things that God 
has done for us, and the things that we must do for our- 
selves. The whole proposition of necessity in this case, 
must come from the offended party. Man could propose 
nothing, do nothing to propitiate his Creator, after he had 
rebelled against him. Heaven, therefore, overtures; and 
man accepts, surrenders, and returns to God. The Messiah 
is a gift, sacrifice is a gift, justification is a gift, the Holy 
Spirit is a gift, eternal life is a gift, and even the means of 
our personal sanctification is a gift from God. Truly, we 
are saved by grace, Heaven, we say, does certain things 
for us, and also proposes to us what we should do to inherit 
eternal life. It is all of God: for he has sent his Son; he has 
sent his Spirit; and all that they have done, or shall do, is 
of free favor; and the proposition concerning our justifica- 
tion and sanctification is equally divine and gracious a9 the 
mission of his Son. We are only asked to accept a sacri- 
fice which God has provided for our sins, and then the par- 
don of them, and to open the doors of our hearts, that the 
Spirit of God may come in, and make its abode in us. God 



* The verb religo, wiih all its Latia family, imports a binding again, or tying 
fast that which was dissolved. 



38 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

has provided all these blessings for us, and only requires us 
to accept of them freely, without any price or idea of merit 
on our part. But he asks us to receive them cordially, and 
to give up our hearts to him. 

111. It is in the kingdom of grace, as in the kingdom of 
nature. Heaven provides the bread, the water, the fruits, 
the flowers; but we must gather and enjoy them. And if 
there be no merit in eating the bread which Heaven has sent 
for physical life and comfort, neither is there merit in eating 
the bread of life which came down from heaven for our spi- 
ritual life and consolation. Still, it is true, in grace, as in 
nature — that he that eats not shall die. Hence, there are 
conditions of enjoyment, though no conditions of merit, 
either in nature or grace. We shall therefore speak in de- 
tail of the things which God has done, and of the things that 
we must do, as essential to our salvation. First, of the 
things that God has done: — 



CHAPTER X, 



SACRIFICE FOR SIN, 



I. The history of sacrifice is the history of atonement, 
reconcilation, redemption, and remission of sins. These 
are not, at least in the Jewish and Christian style, exactly 
synonimous terms. Sacrifice atones and reconciles. It 
propitiates God, and reconciles man. It is the cause, and 
these are its effects on heaven and earth, on God and man, 

II. For form's sake, and, perhaps, for the sake of perspi- 
cuity, four questions ought here to be propounded and re- 
solved, at the very threshold of our inquiries. 1, What is 
sacrifice? 2. To whom is it to be offered? 3. For whom 
is it to be offered? 4. By whom is it to be offered? The 
answers areas prompt and as brief as the interrogations. 1. 
In its literal and primary acceptance, it is "the solemn and 
religious infliction of death upon an innocent and unoffend- 
ing victim, usually by shedding its blood" Figuratively, it 
means the offering of any thing, living or dead, person or 
animal, or property, to God. 2. Religious sacrifice is to be 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 4H 

offered to God alone. 3. It is to be offered for man, -4. It 
is to be offered by a priest. 

Hi. The greater part of sacrifices were lambs. Hence 
Christ is called the Lamb of Gob, not because of his inno- 
cence or patience, but because "he takethaway,"or beareth 
"the sin of the world." It is rather, then, with a reference 
to h\s-death than his Ufe^^t he is called the Lamb of God„ 
Neither his example nor his doctrine could expiate sin. This 
required the shedding of blood: for without shedding of 
blood, there never was remission of sin. 

IV. Priests are mediators in their proper place and mean- 
ing. But at first every man was his own priest. For as it 
was once right for a man to marry his sister, because he 
could find no other person for a wife, so was it lawful and 
expedient for every man to be his own priest. Thus, Adam. 
Abel, Noah, &e., were their own priests. In the next chap- 
ter of time, the eldest sons — then the princes of tribes, 
were priests for their respective tribes and people. But 
finally, God called, and appointed such persons as Melcfai- 
sedick and Aaron to those offices. 

V. Sacrifice, doubtless, is as old as the Fall. The institu- 
tion of it is not recorded by Moses. But he informs us, that 
God had respect for Abel^s offering, and accepted from him a. 
slain lamb. Now had it been a human institution, this could 
not have been the case for a divine warrant has always been 
essential to any acceptable worship. The question, "Who 
has required this at your hands?" must always be answered, 
by a "Thus saiih the Lord" before an offering of mortal 
man can be acknowledged by the Lawgiver of the universe . 
* :i In vain," said the Great Teacher, "do you worship God, 
teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." God 
accepted the sacrifices of Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, 
&c, and in the Jewish system gave many laws and enact- 
ments concerning it. 

VJ. Now as sacrifice may be contemplated in different 
aspects, in reference to what it is in itself, to whom it is ten- 
dered, for whom, and by whom it is offered; so in each of 
these relations, it may be represented under different names. 
Hence, it is a "sin offering," a thank offering, a propitia- 
tion* a reconciliation^ redemption. Contemplated in refer 

* The Hebrew term translated in the Greek Old Testament, of the ilasmos, andjirs 
tt»e common English version, atonement or propitiation, is copher, which signifies a 
covering. The verb copher "to cover" or "to make atonement" denotes the object 
of sacrifice; and hence, Jesus is called the ilasmos, the covering, propitiation or 
atonement for our sins. 1 John ii. 2, and iv. 10. It is a curious and remarkable 



38 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

ence to God, it is a propitiation; in reference to mankind, it 
is a reconciliation ; and in another point of view, it may even 
be regarded as a redemption or ransom. On each of these 
it may be expedient to make a few remarks. 

VI I. Sacrifice, as respects God, is a propitiation; as re- 
spects, sinners, it is a reconciliation; as respects sin, it is an 
expiation; as respects the saved, jpis a redemption. These 
are aspects of the thing of cardinal value in understanding 
the Scriptures. As a propitiation or atonement* it is offered 
to God; not, indeed to move his benevolence or to excite 
his mercy, but to render him propitious according to law and 
justice. It sprang from everlasting love, and is the effect, 
and not the cause of God's benevolence to sinners. But 
without it God could not be propitious to us. The indignity 
offered his person, authority, and government, by the rebel- 
Hon of man, as also the good of all his creatures, made it 
impossible for him, according to justice, eternal right, and 
his own benevolence, to show mercy without sacrifice, 
True, indeed, he always does prefer mercy to sacrifice, as 
he prefers the end to the means. But divine mercy forever 
sits upon the propitiatory ; upon law and justice. Thus 
affirms Paul of Jesus, "Whom God has set forth as a pro- 
pitiatory through faith in his blood, for a declaration of his 
justice — that he might be just, and the justifier of the ungodly , 
or of him that believeth in Jesus." In this sense only, God 
could not be gracious to man in forgiving him without a 
propitiation, or something that could justify him both to him- 
self and all his creatures, in this acceptation of the term 
atonement, it is found often in the law, not less than twenty- 
rive times in the single book of Leviticus. 

VUI. As respects the sinner, we have said it is a recon- 
ciliation. Indeed, the term reconciliation, very appropri- 
ately applies to sacrifice, inasmuch as it brings both the 
offended and the offender together. So far as it honors law 
and justice, it reconciles God to forgive; and so far as it 

fact, tiiatGod covered Adam and Eve with the skins of the first victims of death, 
instead of their fig leaf robes. This may have prefigured the fact, that while sin 
was atoned or expiated as respects God by the life of the victim, the effect as re- 
spects man was a covering for his nakedness and shame, or his sin, which divested 
him of his primitive innocence and beauty, and covered him with ignominy and 
reproach. 

* Eatallagee, translated once aiovement; Rom. v. 11, occurs in the New Testa 
ment four times. In Rom. v. 11, it ought to have been reconciliation as in Rom. 
xi . 15, 2 Cor. v. 18, 19. It is not ilasmos, atonement, in the Jewish sense, but katal- 
lagee t reconciliation. God receives the atonement, and men the reconciliation. It 
i? preposterous, then, to talk of the extent of the atonement, but not so of the re 
conciliation. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM, 39 

displays to the offender love and mercy, it reconciles him to 
his offended Sovereign. It is, in this view, a reconciliation 
indeed. It propitiates God and reconciles man. God's 
"anger is turned away ;" (not a turbulent passion, not an im- 
placable wrath ;) but "that moral sentiment of justice," which 
demands the punishment of violated law, is pacified or well 
pleased; and man's hatred and animosity against God, is 
subdued, overcome, and destroyed in and by the same sacri- 
fice. Thus in fact, it is, in reference to both parties, a re- 
conciliation. Still, however, when we speak according to 
scriptural usage, and with proper discrimination, sacrifice, 
as respects God, is atonement or propitiation, and as re- 
spects man, it is reconciliation. These are its reasons and 
its effects. "For this cause," says Paul, "Jesus is the me- 
diator of a new institution, that by means of death for the 
redemption of the transgressions under the first institution, 
those who had been called might receive the promise of the 
eternal inheritance."* Again, the same writer makes the 
death of Christ the basis of reconciliation, saying, "Be re- 
conciled to God: for he has made Christ a sin offering for 
us;" and now "God is in Christ, reconciling the world to 
himself."! 

IX. As respects sin, it has been observed, sacrifice is an 
expiation. The terms purification or cleansing, are in the 
common version preferred to expiation. Once, at least, 
(Num. xxxv. 33,) we have need of a better word to repre- 
sent the original than the term cleansing. "There can be 
do expiation for the land" polluted with blood, "but by the 
blood of him that shed it." Still, if any one prefer purifi- 
cation to expiation, or even cleansing to either, so long as 
we understand each other, it is indeed a matter of very 
easy forbearance. The main point is, that sacrifice cancels 
sin, atones for sin, and puts it away. "He put away sin" 
says Paul, u by the sacrifice of himself." This is expiation, 

X. "The redemption, then, which is in Christ Jesus," is 
a moral, and not a commercial consideration. If sin were 
only a debt, and not a crime, it might be forgiven without 
atonement. Nay, if sin were a debt, and sacrifice a pay- 
ment of that debt, then there could be no forgiveness at all 
with God! For if the Redeemer or Ransomer of man, has 
paid the debt, justice, and not mercy or forgiveness, com- 
mands the release, not the pardon of the debtor. Some 
there are, however, who from inattention to the sacred style, 

* Hebrews \x, 15. 2 Cor. v. 18 21. 



W THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEMS 

and the meaning of biblical terms, have actually represent- 
ed the death of Christ, rather as the payment of an immense 
debt, than as an expiation of sin, or a purification from guilt- 
and have thus made the pardon of sin wholly unintelligible^, 
or rather, indeed* impossible. Every one feels, that when a 
third person assumes a debt ? and pays it, the principal must 
be discharged, and cannot be forgiven. But when sin is 
viewed in the light of crime, and atonement offered by a 
third person, then it is a question of grace, whether the 
pardon or acquital of the sinner shall be granted by him 
against whom the crime has been committed ; because, even 
after an atonement or propitiation is made, the transgressor 
is yet as deserving of punishment as before. There is room, 
then, for both justice and mercy; for the display of indig- 
nation against sin, and the forgiveness of the sinner, in just 
views of sin, and of the redemption there is in and through 
the Lord Jesus Christ. 

XI. Redemption, however, is the deliverance from sin? 
rather than the expiation or atonement for it. Thus, Christ 
is said, "by his own blood, to have obtained an eternal re- 
demption for us."* Thus pardon, sanctiflcation, and even 
the resurrection of the bodies of the saints, are severally 
contemplated as parts of our redemption, or deliverance 
from the guilt of sin, from the power of sin, and from the 
punishment of sin.f 

XII. There is a number of incongruities and inaccura- 
cies in the controversy about the nature and the extent of 
the atonement, which, as the mists of the morning retire from 
the hills before the rising sun, disappear from our mental 
horizon, when the light of scriptural definition breaks in 
upon our souls. The atonement or propitiation has no "ex- 
tent" because God alone is its object. It contemplates sin 
as a unit in the divine government, and therefor© the "Lamb 
of God beareth away the sin of the world, " and his death is 
a "sin offering." As to its value, it is unspeakable. Com- 
mensurate it is indeed, with the sin of the world; for it 
makes it just on the part of God, to forgive and save every 
one that believeth in Jesus. Reconciliation and redemption, 
have, however, a certain limited extent. Reconciliation is 
not universal, but partial. All do not believe in Jesus, all 
are therefore not reconciled to God through him. Redemp- 



* Hebrews ix. 12. 

t See Ep. i. 7, Col. i. 14, ] Pet. 18, Tsa. lix. 20, Rom. viii. 23, EpI:. i. 14, iv, 3v 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM, 41 

lion or deliverance from the guilt, pollution, power, and pun- 
ishment of sin, is only commensurate with the elect of God, 
i. e., with those who believe in Jesus and obey him. 

XIII. They who affirm that one drop of Christ's blood 
would expiate the sin of the whole world, teach without 
knowing it, that Christ has died in vain: for surely, the 
Messiah might have shed many drops of blood and still 
have lived. They make his death an unmeaning superflu- 
ity or redundancy, who reason thus. They also agree, with- 
out intending it, with those who view sin merely as a 
debt, and not a crime, and therefore say, that there is no need 
of sin offerings, of sacrifice, or of a divine Saviour, in order to 
its forgiveness. 

XIV. They too, seem to mistake the matter, and I am 
sorry to find such names among them as Butler, Whitby, 
and Macknight, who, while they contend, that the death of 
Christ, was a sacrifice or a propitiation for sin, wholly re- 
solve its efficacy into the mere appointment of God. Ac- 
cording to them, God might have saved the whole world 
without the appearance of his Son : for the merits or effica- 
cy of Christ's death arises not from his dignity of persou, 
but from the mere appointment or will of God! Now we 
cannot think that it was possible for God himself to save 
sinners in any other way than he has chosen: for to have 
paid an overprice for our redemption, savors rather of prodi- 
gality, than of divine wisdom and prudence. And if mere 
appointment was sufficient, why not, then, have continued 
the legal sacrifices, and have made the blood of bulls and of 
goats efficacious to take it away?! 

XV. To conclude, sacrifice is essential to remission of 
sins, and is therefore old as the fall of man. But the sacri- 
fices of the patriaichial and Jewish dispensations could not, 
and did not, take away sin. They were but types of the 
real sacrifice: for as Paul says, "It was not possible that 
the blood of bulls and goats could take away sin." And 
again, "If the blood of bulls, and of goats, with the ashes of 
a heifer, did cleanse to the purification of the flesh; how 
much more shall the blood of Christ, who through an eternal 
spirit offers himself to God, cleanse your conscience from 
dead works to serve the living God?" Christ's death, is 
therefore, a real and sufficient sacrifice for sin, and stands 
in the attitudes of propitiation, reconciliation, expiation, and 
redemption; from which spring to us, justification, sanctirl- 
cation, adoption, and eternal life. 

4* 



42 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

XVI. The sacrifice of Christ, as before affirmed, is as re- 
spects God, a propitiation ; as respects man, a reconciliation ; 
as respects sin, an expiation; as respects the penitent, a re- 
demption ^ but the attributes that apply to it in any of these 
aspects do not apply to it in the others; and this oversight 
has in our opinion been the fruitful source of intermina- 
ble controversies concerning "the atonement," as it is most 
usually denominated. It is indeed, infinite in value, as re- 
spects the expiation of sin, or its propitiatory power; but as 
respects the actual reconciliation and redemption of sinners, 
it is limited to those only who believe on and obey the Sa- 
viour. While, also, it is as universal as the sin of the world , 
the peculiar sins only of the obedient are expiated by it.. 
Its design, then, is necessarily limited to all who come to 
God by it; while its value and efficacy, are equal to the sal- 
vation of the whole world, provided only, they will put them- 
selves under the covering of its propitiatory power. 

XVII. The "doctrine of the cross" being the great cen- 
tral doctrine of the Bible, and the very essence of Chris- 
tianity—which explains all the peculiarities of the Christian 
system, and of the relation of Father, Son, and Holy Spi- 
rit, as far as mortals can comprehend them, and as it has 
been to the sceptics and to many professors, "a stone of 
stumbling, and and a rock of offence," for the sake of some 
of the speculative and cavilling, who ask why are these things 
so, I subjoin an extract from the writings ot Mr. Watson, on 
this point, which may suggest *o them some useful rejections 
on this cardinal and all absorbing subject: — 

XVIII. "How sin may be forgiven, says Mr. Watson, with- 
out leading to such misconceptions of the divine character 
as would encourage disobedience, and thereby weaken the 
influence of the divine government, must be considered as 
a problem of very difficult solution. A government which 
admitted no forgiveness, would sink the guilty to despair; a 
government which never punishes offence, is a contradiction, 
it cannot exist. Not to punish the guilty, is to dissolve au- 
thority; to punish without, mercy, is to destroy, and where 
all are guilty, to make the destruction universal. That we 
cannot sin with impunity, is a matter determined. The 
Ruler of the world is not careless of the conduct of his crea- 
tures; for that penal consequences are attached to the of- 
fence, is not a subject of argument, but it is matter of fact, 
evident by daily observation of the events and circumstan- 
ces of the present life. It is a principle, therefore, already 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM, 43 

laid down, that the authority of God must be preserved; but 
it ought to be remarked, that in that kind of administration 
which restrains evil by penalty, and encourages obedience 
by favor and hope, we and all moral creatures are the inter- 
ested parties, and not the Divine Governor himself, whom, 
because of his independent and all sufficient nature, our 
transgressions cannot injure. The reasons, therefore, which 
compel him to maintain his authority, do not terminate in 
himself. If he treats offenders with severity, it is for our 
sake, and for the sake of the moral order of the universe, 
to which sin, if encouraged by a negligent administration, 
or by entire or frequent impunity, would be the source of 
endless disorder and misery; and if the granting of pardon 
to offence be strongly and even severely guarded, so that no 
less a satisfaction could be accepted than the death of God's 
own Son, we are to refer this to the moral necessity of the 
case, as arising out of the general welfare of accountable 
creatures, liable to the deep evil of sin, and not to any re- 
luctance on the part of our Maker to forgive, much less* to 
anything vindictive in his nature, charges which have been 
most inconsiderately and unfairly said to be applied in the 
doctrine of Christ's sacrificial sufferings. If it then be true, 
that the release of offending man from future punishment, 
and his restoration to the divine favor, ought, for the interest 
of mankind themselves, and for the instruction and caution 
of other beings, to be so bestowed, that no license shall be 
given to offence; that God himself, while he manifests his 
compassion, should not appear less just, less holy than he 
really is; that his authority should be felt to be as compell- 
ing, and that disobedience should as truly, though not un- 
conditionally, subject us to the deserved penalty, as though 
no hope of forgiveness had been exhibited; — we ask, On 
what scheme, save that which is developed in the New Tes- 
tament, are those necessary conditions provided for? Ne- 
cessary they are, unless we contend for a license and an 
impunity which shall annul all good government in the 
universe, a point for which no reasonable man will contend; 
and if so, then we must allow, that there is strong internal 
evidence of the truth of the doctrine of Scripture, when it 
makes the offer of pardon consequent only upon the secu- 
rities we have mentioned. If it be said, that sin may be 
pardoned, in the exercise of the divine prerogative, the re- 
ply is, that if this prerogative were exercised towards a 
part of mankind only, the passing by of the rest would be 



44 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

with difficulty reconciled to the Divine character; and if 
the benefit were extended to all, government, would be at 
an end. This scheme of bringing men within the exercise 
of a merciful prerogative, does not, therefore, meet the ob- 
vious difficulty of the case; nor is it improved by confining 
the act of grace only to repentant criminals. For if repent- 
ance imply a "renewal in the spirit of the mind," no crimi- 
nal would of himself thus repent. But if by repentance 
be meant merely remorse and terror, in the immediate view 
of danger, what offender, surrounded with the wreck of for- 
mer enjoyments, feeling the vanity of guilty pleasure?, now 
past forever, and beholding the approach of the delayed pe- 
nal visitation, but would repent? Were the principle of 
granting pardon to repentance to regulate human govern- 
ments, every criminal would escape, and judicial forms 
would become a subject of ridicule. Nor is it recognized 
by the Divine Being, in his conduct to men in the present 
state, although in this world punishments are not final and 
absolute. Repentance does not restore health injured by in- 
temperance; property wasted by profusion; or character 
once stained by dishonorable practices. li repentance 
alone could secure pardon, then all must be pardoned, and 
government dissolved, as in the case of forgiveness by the 
exercise of mere prerogative; but if a merely arbitrary 
selection be made, then different and discordant principles 
of government are introduced into the divine administra- 
tion, which is a derogatory supposition. 

XIX. The question proposed abstractedly, How may 
mercy be extended to offending creatures, the subjects of 
the divine government, without encouraging vice by lower- 
ing the righteous and holy character of God, and the au- 
thority of his government in the maintenance of which the 
whole universe of beings are interested? is, therefore, at 
once one of the most important, and one of the most diffi- 
cult that can employ the human mind. None of the theo- 
ries which have been opposed to Christianity affords a sat- 
isfactory solution of the problem. They assume principles 
either destructive of moral government, or which cannot, in 
the circumstances of man, be acted upon. The only an- 
swer is found in the holy Scriptures. They alone show, 
and indeed, they alone profess to show, how God may be 
"just," aud yet the "justifier" of the ungodly. Other 
schemes show how he may be merciful; but the difficulty 
does not lie there. The Gospel meets it, by declaring "the 



THE CHRISTIAN SYBTE3I. 45 

righteousness of God," at the same time that it proclaims 
his mercy. The voluntary suffering of the divine Son of 
God "for us," "the just for the unjust," magnify the justice 
of God; display his hatred to sin; proclaim "the exceeding 
sinfulness" of transgression, by the deep and painful man- 
ner in which they were inflicted upon the Substitute; warn 
the persevering offender of the terribleness, as well as the 
certainty, of his punishment; and open the gates of salva- 
tion to every penitent. It is a part of the same divine plan, 
also, to engage the influence of the Holy Spirit, to awaken 
penitence in man, and to lead the wanderer back to himself; 
to renew our fallen nature in righteousness, at the moment 
we are justified through faith, and to place us in circum- 
stances in which we may henceforth "walk not after the 
flesh, but after the Spirit." All the ends of government 
are here answered — no license is given to offence — the moral 
law is unrepealed — a day of judgment is still appointed — 
future and eternal punishments still display their awful 
sanctions — a new and singular display of the awful purity 
of the divine character is afforded — yet pardon is offered to 
all who seek it; and the whole world may be saved. 

XX. With such evidence of the suitableness to the case 
of mankind, under such lofty views of connexion with the 
principles and ends of moral government, does the doctrine 
of the atonement present itself. But other important con- 
siderations are not wanting to mark the united wisdom and 
goodness of that method of extending mercy to the guilty, 
which Christianity teaches us to have been actually and 
exclusively adopted. It is rendered, indeed, "worthy of all 
acceptation," by the circumstance of its meeting the diffi- 
culties we have just dwelt upon — difficulties which could 
not otherwise have failed to make a gloomy impression upon 
every offender awakened to a sense of his spiritual danger; 
but it must be very inattentively considered, if it does not 
further commend itself to us, by not only removing the ap- 
prehensions we might feel as to the severity of the Divine 
Lawgiver, but as exalting him in our esteem, as "the right- 
eous Lord, who loveth righteousness," who surrendered his 
beloved Son to suffering and death, that the influence of 
moral goodness might not be weakened in the hearts of his 
creatures; and as a God of love, affording in this instance 
a view of the tenderness and benignity of his nature, infi- 
nitely more impressive and affecting, than any abstract de- 
scription could convey; or than any act of creating or provi- 



46 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

dential power and grace could exhibit, and, therefore, most 
suitable to subdue that enmity which had unnaturally grown 
up in the hearts of his creatures, and which, when corrupt, 
they so easily transfer from a law which restrains their in- 
clination, to the Lawgiver himself. If it be important to us 
to know the extent and reality of our danger, by the death 
of Christ it is displayed, not in description, but in the most 
impressive action; if it be important that we should have 
an assurance of the divine placability towards us, it here 
receives a demonstration incapable of being heightened; if 
gratitude be the most powerful motive of future obedience, 
and one which renders command on the one part, and active 
service on the other, "not grievous but joyous," the recollec- 
tion of such obligations as those which the "love of Christ" 
has laid us under, is a perpetual spring to this energetic af- 
fection, and will be the means of raising it to higher and 
more delightful activity forever. All that can most power- 
fully illustrate the united tenderness and awful majesty of 
God, and the odiousness of sin; all that can win back the 
heart of man to his Maker and Lord, and render future obe- 
dience a matter of affection and delight, as well as duty; 
all that can extinguish the angry and malignant passions of 
man to man; all that can inspire a mutual benevolence; and 
dispose to a self-denying charity for the benefit of others; 
all that can arouse by hope, or tranquilize by faith; is to be 
found in the sacrificial death of Christ, and the principles 
and purposes for which it was endured," 



CHAPTER XL 



THE ATTRIBUTES OF A REAL SIN-OFFERING, 



I. A single action or event often involves, in weal or woe ? 
a family, a nation, an empire. Who can count the effects 
or bearings of the elevation or fall of a Cesar, a Hannibal,, 
a Napoleon? A single victory, like that of Zama, or of 
Waterloo; a single revolution, like that of England or Ame- 
rica, sometimes involves the fortunes of a world. Neither 
actions nor events can be appreciated but through their 
bearings and tendencies upon every person and thing with 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 47 

which they come into contact. The relations, connexions, 
and critical dependencies in which persons and actions 
stand, are often so numerous and so various, that it is seldom, 
or, perhaps, at all in the power of man to calculate the con- 
sequences, or the value of one of a thousand of the more 
prominent actions of his life. 

II. Who could have estimated, or who can estimate, the 
moral or the political bearings of the sale of Joseph to a 
band of Ishmaelites — of the exposure of Moses in a cradle 
of rushes on the Nile — of the anointing of David king of 
{ sr ael — of the schism of the twelve tribes under Rehoboam 
— of the treachery of Judas, the martyrdom of Stephen, the 
conversion of Paul, the accession of Constantine the Great, 
the apostacy of Julian, the crusades against the Turks, the 
reformation of Luther, the revival of letters, or any of the 
great movements of the present day 1 How difficult, then, is 
it to estimate the rebellion of Satan, the fall of Adam, the 
death of Christ, in all their bearings upon the destinies of 
the universe! 

III. Before a remedy for sin could either be devised or 
appreciated a knowledge of its bearing upon God and man, 
upon time and eternity, upon heaven and earth, is an indis- 
pensable prerequisite. But who possesses this knowledge, 
or what uninspired man can attain it? At best we know 
but in part; and, therefore, can but partially explain any 
thing. How difficult, then, to form a satisfactory view of sin 
and its remedy — of the fall of Adam and the death of Christ! 

IV. It would, however, greatly aid our conceptions of the 
death of Christ, and illustrate the nature and use of sin- 
offerings, could we obtain just and scriptural views of sin 
in its necessary consequences, or in its prominent bearings 
upon the universe. Indeed some knowledge of these aspects 
of sin is essential to our perception and appreciation of the 
wisdom, justice, and grace of the Christian system. It is 
not enough that we entertain a few vague and indistinct 
notions of its tendencies, or of the attitudes in which it 
stands to God, ourselves, and our fellows: we must have 
clear and definite views of the relations in which God stands 
to us, and we to him and to one another, and how sin affects 
us all in these relations; for that it bears a peculiar aspect 
to each of us in all these relations, will, we doubt not, be 
conceded without debate. 

V. God stands in diverse relations to the intellectual and 
moral creation. He is our Father, our Lawgiver, and our 



48 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

King. Now his feelings as a father, and his character as a 
lawgiver and sovereign, are equally involved in the bear- 
ings and aspects of sin. The influence of sin upon ourselves 
is also various and multiform. It affects, the heart the con- 
science, the whole soul and body of man. It alienates our 
affections, and even works hatred in our minds both towards 
God and man. As an ancient adage says, "We hate those we 
have injured;" and having offended God our Father, we are. 
for that very reason, filled with enmity against him. It 
also oppresses and pollutes the conscience with its guilt and 
dread, and enslaves the passions as well as works the de- 
struction of the body. It also alienates man from man, 
weakens the authority and destroys the utility of law; and, 
if not subdued, would ultimately subvert the throne and 
government of God. If not restrained and put down, it 
would fill the universe with anarchy and disorder — with 
universal misery and ruin. 

VI. To go no farther into details, it may, on the premises 
already before us, be observed : — 1st. That every sin wounds 
the affection of our heavenly Father — 2d. Insults and dis| 
honors his law and authority in the estimation of his other 
subjects — 3d. Alienates our hearts from him — 4th. Op- 
presses our conscience with guilt and dread — 5th. Severs 
us from society by its morbid selfishness and disregaid for 
man — 6th. Induces to new infractions and habitual viola- 
tions of right — And, 7th. Subjects us to shame and con- 
eontempt— our bodies to the dust, and our persons to ever- 
lasting destruction from the presence of the Lord. 

VII. Not as the full tale, but rather as a specimen of the 
loss sustained, and of the mischief done, by our transgres- 
sion, we have made these seven specifications. These oniy 
serve to show in how many aspects sin must be contempla- 
ted before we can form a just estimate of a suitable and suf- 
ficient sin offering or remedy. 

VIII. Now, so far as we have been able to trace the ten- 
dencies and bearings of transgression in the above enume- 
ration, we must find in the sin offering a remedy and an 
antidote which will fully meet all these aspects; otherwise 
it will be utterly valueless and unavailing in the eye of en- 
lightened reason, as well as in the righteous judgment of 
God, to expiate sin, to put it away, and to prevent its recur- 
rence. 

IX. Need, we demonstrate that man himself cannot fur- 
nish such a sin offering! Need we again propound Micah's 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 49 

question — "Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and 
bow myself before the high God ? Shall I come before him, 
with burnt offerings; with calves of a year old? Will the 
Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thou- 
sands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my first born for my 
transgression; the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul." 
Will repentance for the past, and future amendment place 
things as they were; raise the murdered dead ; repair wasted 
fortunes, and recruit broken constitutions? Will tears, and 
groans, and agonies, honor a violated law, sustain a righteous 
government, vindicate the Divine character, and prevent 
future and further enormities? Have they ever done it? 
Can they ever do it? Surely, we shall be excused for not 
attempting to prove that we have neither a tear, nor a sigh, 
nor agony, nor a lamb, nor a kid of our own creation, to offer 
to the Lord, even were such a sacrifice available to meet all 
the bearings of the case! 

X. Every transgression, even the least, the eating of a 
forbidden apple, subjects the transgressor to destruction. 
One sin, of one man, has involved the whole race in death. 
The life of the transgressor is demanded in the very mild- 
est accents of insulted justice. Hence, in the law of the 
typical sin offerings, we find it thus written: "The life of 
the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the 
altar, to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the 

BLOOD THAT MAKETH AN ATONEMENT FOR THE SOUL."* But 

such blood, such lives as the law required, could not, Paul 
and Common Sense being judge, take away sin. They 
could only prefigure a life and a blood that could truly, and 
justly, and honorably expiate it. Thus, the death of Christ 
is forced upon our attention by the law, by the prophets, by 
the necessity of the case, enlightened Reason being in the 
chair, as the only real, true, and proper sin-atoning offering. 
It does, indeed, meet not only the above seven particulars, 
but all others which have occurred to the human mind; and 
thus secures the union and harmony of things on earth, 
and of things in heaven, in the inviolable bonds of an ever- 
lasting brotherhood. 

XI. 1st. "In bringing many sons to glory," it sooths and 
delights the wounded love of our kind and benignant hea- 
venly Father — 2d. "It magnifies and makes honorable" his 
violated law and insulted government — 3d. It reconciles our 



* Levit. xvii. 11. 



50 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

hearts thoroughly and forever to God, as a proof and pledge 
incontrovertible of his wonderful and incomprehensible 
love to us — 4th. Jt effectually relieves our conscience by 
"cleansing us from all sin," and produces within us a divine 
serenity, a peace and joy "unspeakable and full of glory" — 
5. Jt also reconciles us to our fellows, and fills us with 
brotherly affection and universal benevolence, because it 
makes us all one in faith, in hope, in joy, as joint heirs of 
immortality and eternal life — 6. It is the most effectual 
guard against new infractions of the divine law, and super- 
latively deters from sin, by opening to us its diabolical na- 
ture and tremendous consequences; showing us in the per- 
son of God's only begotten and well beloved Son, when a 
sin offering, the impossibility of escape, from the just and 
retributive punishment of insulted and indignant Heaven — 
and 7th. It is a ransom from death, a redemption from the 
grave, such a delivearnce from the guilt, pollution, power, 
and punishment of sin, as greatly elevates the sons of God 
above all that they could have attained or enjoyed under 
the first constitution. It presents a new creation to our 
view; — new heayens, new earth, new bodies, new life, new 
joys, new glories, tie that vanquished death by dying, who 
now sits upon the throne, says, "Behold I make all things 
new." "He has become the Author of an eternal salvation 
to all tbatobey him." 

XII. Let no one imagine that in this exemplification of 
the aspects in which sin and sin offerings must be contem- 
plated before we can rationally judge of the necessity, the 
suitableness, and the sufficiency of the death of Christ, we 
have attempted to present a full view of these aspects. We 
are incompetent to the task. This life is too short, and our 
opportunities too limited to learn all the bearings of trans- 
gression upon ourselves, the throne and government of God, 
and his other subjects. We only intend a specimen of the 
points to be met in a proper sin offering. These put it cut 
of the reach of ail human, of all angelic, of all created 
mediators, victims, or sacrifices to expiate sin. So far as 
we can comprehend this wonderful subject, we are more 
and more deeply penetrated with the conviction, that noth 
ing inferior to the voluntary sacrifice of the Son of God, 
could put away sin; and make it both just, and merciful, 
and honorable, and safe, on the part of his God and Father, 
to forgive and save one of his rebel race. Nor would it 
then have been just, according to our conception, to have 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 51 

compelled him to bear our iniquities, or to suffer the just for 
the unjust; to inflict on an innocent person, the chastisement 
of our offences; but it was both just and kind on the part of 
our heavenly Father, to accept for us the voluntary surren- 
der of his Son, as a willing sacrifice for our sins. "Thanks 
be to God, for his unspeakable gift!" 



CHAPTER XI. 



CHRIST THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD. 



I. As Abraham said to Isaac on his way to Mount Moriah, 
"God," my son, "will provide himself a lamb for a burnt 
"offering," so has it come to pass. In order to the redemp- 
tion of man from sin and all its penal consequences, God 
has provided a lamb, for a sin offering. He sent his Son, 
who on coming into the world, said, "Sacrifice and offering 
thou wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared me; in burnt 
offerings and sacrifices for sins thou hast had no pleasure; 
then said i, Lo 1 come to do thy will, in the volume of the 
book it is written of me." But he did more than offer him- 
self as a sin offering; he was more than the Lamb of God; 
he was the "prophet of Jehovah," and revealed to man the 
character and the will of God. He disclosed secrets hid 
from the foundation of the world. In one word, he is the 
oracle, as well as the sacrifice which God has provided 
for us. 

II. As the Incarnate Word, he is the interpreter of his 
will. The New Testament, is then, the gift of Christ — and 
wa3 written by his guidance and inspiration. For all that 
the Spirit of God has done has been through his instrumen- 
tality. The Spirit is Christ's gift. Jesus is now as much 
"Lord of the Spirit" as he is the Lord of life and glory. 
The New Testament 13 a volume written by his servants. 
Six of his Apostles and two of his Evangelists wrote it all. 
That book is to us now in the stead of the personal presence 
of the Lord and his Apostles. He gave gifts to men after 
he left their abode. "He gave Apostles, Prophets, Evan- 
gelists, Pastors, Teachers." As a means of our salvation; 
as one of the things which God has done for us, we place 



52 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

the New Testament, the living oracles, or gospel of Christ, 
as next in order, as it is in importance, to his sacrifice. 

III. To the sacrifice of Christ, we always look for the ba- 
sis of our pardon; to his blood that cleanses from all sin, 
for justification and personal acceptance; and to his Word 
we look for counsel and instruction in Christian piety and 
righteousness. We are as dependent upon his Word for 
life, as we are upon his blood for pardon. "I am," said he, 
"the light of the world; he that followeth me shall not 
walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life? "In him 
was life, and the life was the light of men." "That was the 
true light," said John, 'which coming into the world, en- 
lighteneth every man." "As long as I am in the world," 
says Jesus, "I am the light of the world." Thus Isaiah spake 
of him : "I will also give thee as a light to the Gentiles, that 
thou mayest be my salvation to the ends of the earth." "I 
will give thee for a covenant of the people, or light of the 
Gentiles, to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners 
from the prison; and them that sit in darkness out of the 
prison house." "His going forth is prepared as the morn- 
ing." "The sun of righteouness will arise with healing 
under his wings." "I witness," said Paul, "both to small and 
great, that the Messiah should show light to the people and 
to the Gentiles." The Word of Christ, is the light of 
Christ; and therefore the Christian Scriptures are the light 
of the world; and he that followeth them shall have the light 
of life. "If you continue in my doctrine," says the Mes- 
siah, "you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make 
you free." If the Son make you free, you shall be free in- 
deed." 



CHAPTER XIII. 



THE LORDSHIP OF THE MESSIAH. 



I. We are seeking to apprehend the things done for us in 
the Christian system. "Christ, our passover, has been sa- 
crificed for us." As such "not a bone of him was broken." 
Yet, "he died for us." In the second place, he has become 
our prophet , as well as our priest] and has declared to us the 



THE CHRISTIAN SFSTEM. 53 

will of God; the whole will of God concerning us. He is 
our light, as well as our sin offering. But in the third place, 
he has been made Lord for us. To make Christ Lord for 
us, as well as of us — was the last act of the sublime drama 
of man's redemption from sin. The last secret of the mys- 
tery of Christ, which Peter promulged on the day of Pente- 
cost, was, "Let all the house of Israel know, that God has 
made that same Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and 
Christ." To make him Lord for us, was to invest him 
with universal authority, that he might have it in his power 
to give eternal life to all his people. Jesus, in one of his 
prayers, in anticipation of his investiture, says, "Thou hast 
given him power over all flesh that he might give eternal life 
to as many as thou hast given him." But after his re- 
surrection from the dead, and ascension into heaven, he was 
crowned Lord of angels, as well as Lord of men; and there- 
fore he said, "all authority," or lordship, "in heaven and on 
earth is given tome." He is now the Lord of hosts: le- 
gions of angels, the armies of the skies, are given him : — for 
what? That he might be able to do all for us that our condi- 
tion needs. It was for us he became a Prophet, for us he 
became a priest, for us he has been made Lord of hosts, 
King of the universe, Judge and avenger of all. He is 
Lord of life, Lord of the Spirit, Lord of all. 

II. We need sacrifice — and therefore we need a priest. 
We need a Leader, a Luminary, a Sun of Righteousness; 
and we want one who can always help us in time of need, 
when we wrestle not with flesh and blood, but with the rulers 
of the darkness of this world; with wicked spirits living in 
the air. If Jesus himself, in one of these conflicts, needed 
an angel to minister to him, we need it more. 

HI. Three things are done for us; a sin offering is pre- 
sented; a lamp of life is put into our hands; and all the ac- 
tive powers and energies in the wide universe are placed 
at the command of our King whenever we need them. 
These are things already done. Hence, the Holy Spirit, 
and all the angels of heaven are now at the disposal of our 
Saviour: for in him all the promises of God are laid up; all 
the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and all the fulness 
of the Deity, reside fully and truly in him. All these things, 
it is true, might be comprehended in one gift — the gift of 
Jesus as our Mediator; our Prophet, Priest, and King. Still 
it is expedient to view the things done for us, severally and 
distinctly in the Christian svstem. 

5* 



54 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

IV. Other things are promised to he done for us : but these 
are the things already done for us, and before we shall 
speak of the things yet to be done for us, and done in us ? 
we shall summarily consider the things to be done by us, be- 
fore any thing more can be done for us, or done in us. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



FAITH IN CHRIST. 



I. The things done for us, will truly be to us as though 
they were not, unless they are believed. Hence, to the un- 
tutored and unbelieving barbarian or infidel, the universe \s 
without a sin offering, a Sun of Righteousness, a Lord, Re- 
deemer, and a Holy Spirit. Faith is necessary only as a 
means of attainment; as a means of enjoyment. It is not? 
then, an arbitrary enactment or requisition, but a gracious 
mean of salvation. 

II. Faith in Christ is the effect of belief. Belief is the 
cause; and trust, confidence, or faith in Christ, the effect, 
"The faith" sometimes means the truth to be believed. Some- 
times it means "the belief of the truth;" but here we speak 
of it metonymically, putting the effect for the cause-— or 
calling the effect by the name of the cause. To believe 
what a person says, and to trust in him are not always 
identical. True, indeed, they often are; for if a person 
speaks to us concerning himself, and states to us matters of 
great interest toourselves, requiringconfidence in him, to be- 
lieve what he says, and to believe or trust in him, are in ef- 
fect, one and the same thing. Suppose a physician present 
himself to one that is sick, stating his ability and willing- 
ness to heal him; to believe him is to trust in him, and to 
put ourselves under his guidance; provided, only, we love 
health rather than sickness, and life rather than death. 

l!i. While, then, faith is the simple belief of testimony, 
or of the truth, and never can be more nor less than that; 
as a principle of action it has respect to a person or thing 
interesting to us: and is confidence or trust in that person 
or thing. Now the belief of what Christ says of himself, 
*«rmina.tes in trust or confidence in him: and as the Chris- 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 55 

tian religion is a personal thing, both as respects subject and 
object, that faith in Christ which is essential to salvation is 
not the belief of any doctrine, testimony, or truth, ab- 
stractly, but belief in Christ * trust or confidence in him as a 
person, not a thing.* We take Paulas definition of the term 
and of the thing, as perfectly simple, intelligible, and suf- 
ficient. For the term faith, he substitutes the belief of the 
truth. "God has from the beginning, chosen you to salva- 
tion, through the sanctification of the spirit; through the 
belief of the truth."t And of the thing, he says, "Faith is 
the confidence of things hoped for, the conviction of things 
not seen."J And John says, it is "receiving testimony," for 
"If we receive the testimony of man," as a principle of ac- 
tion, or put trust in it, "the testimony of God is greater," and 
of course will produce greater confidence. || Any belief, 
then, that does not terminate in our personal confidence in 
Jesus as the Christ, and induce to trustful submission to 
him, is not faith unfeigned; but a dead faith, and cannot 
save the soul. 



CHAPTER XV. 



REPENTANCE. 



S. Repentance is an effect of faith: for who that believes 
not that God exists, can have "repentance towards God"? 
Repentance is sorrow for sins committed ; but it is more. It 
-is a resolution to forsake them; but it is more. It is actual 
"ceasing to do evil, and learning to do well." This is "re- 
pentance unto life" or what is truly called reformation. Such 
is the force of the command, "Repent every one of you " It 
is not merely, Be sorry for what you have done wrong; nor 
is it, Resolve to do better; nor even try to amend your 
ways: but it is actual amendment of life from the views 
and the motives which the Gospel of Christ exhibits. Gos- 
pel repentance is the offspring of gospel light and gospel 
motive, and therefore, it is the effect, and not the cause, of 
belief of the testimony of God. 

* See the Essay on the Foundation of Christian Union, on the terms, fact, testi- 
mony, faith, #c , where this subject is treated at large. 
f 2 Thess. ii. 3. X Heb. xi. 1- \\ 1 John v. 9 



56 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

II. True repentance, is then, always consummated in ac- 
tual reformation of life. It therefore carries in its very es- 
sence, the idea of restitution. For no man can cordially 
disallow or reprobate his sinful course of life, who does not 
redress the wrongs he has done to the utmost limit of his 
power. To God, he can make no restitution, only as he re- 
funds to his creatures, whom he has injured. If, then, any 
one is convinced in his own mind, that he has injured the 
person, the character, or the property of his neighbor, by 
word or deed, and has it in his power, by word or deed, to 
undo the evil he has done, or to restore what he has unjust- 
ly taken away, he will certainly do it, if his repentance be 
according to either the law of Moses or the Gospel of 
Christ. Otherwise his repentance is of no value: for God 
cannot without trampling on his own law, and dishonoring 
his own character, forgive any man who is conscious of any 
sin he has done to any man, unless to the utmost extent 
of his power, he make good the injury he has done. Thus 
saith the Lord, "If a soul sin and commit a trespass against 
the Lord, and lie unto his neighbor in that which was de- 
livered him to keep, or in fellowship, (i. e., trading,) or in 
anything taken away by violence, or has deceived his neigh- 
bor, or have found that which was lost, and lieth concerning 
it, and sweareth falsely j in any or all these that a man doeth, 
sinning thereat: Then it shall be, because he hath sinned 
and is guilty, that he shall restore that which he took vio- 
lently away, or the thing which he has deceitfully gotten, or 
that which was delivered him to keep, or that lost thing 
which he found, or all that about whtch he has sworn false- 
ly, he shall even restore it in the principal, and shall add a 
fifth part more thereto, and give it to him to whom it apper- 
tained, in the day of his trespass offering, and he shall 
bring his trespass offering to the Lord, and the priest shall 
make atonement for him before the Lord, and it shall be for- 
given him." Levit. vi. 1-7. Sin offerings without repent- 
ance, and repentance without sin offerings, are equally in- 
effectual befoie God. We sin against God always, when 
we sin against man; and therefore, after making all things 
right with man, we can only, through sacrifice, which makes 
the matter right with God, obtain forgiveness. To the same 
effect, Jesus speaks, Matt. v. 23, 24, "Be reconciled to your 
brother, "first make the matter right with him," and then 
come and offer your gift."* 

* See my essays on Regeneration, on the words repentance and reparation. 



*THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 57 



CHAPTER XVI. 



BAPTISM. 



I. There are three things to be considered in baptism : — 1. 
The action commanded to be done; — 2. The subject speci- 
fied ; — 3. The meaning or design of that action, Jesus com- 
ma nded a certain character to be the subject of a certain 
action, for a certain specific purpose or design. The ques- 
tions, then, are, What that action? What that subject? 
What that design? 

1st. of the action. 

II. The action is indicated by a word as definite, clear, 
and unequivocal, as any word in any language ever spoken 
by the many-tongued-sons of Adam. Besides, in all laws 
and institutions, and more especially in those that are of a 
positive, rather than a moral nature, all words having both 
a literal and figurative meaning, a common and a special 
significtaion, are to be understood in their literal and com- 
mon, and not in their figurative and uncommon import and 
acception. So have decided all the judges of law and lan- 
guage, from time immemorial. 

III. That definite and unambiguous word, as almost uni- 
versally known in these days of controversy, is baptisma, 
or baptismos, anglicised, not translated, baptism. The pri- 
mary means by which the meaning of this word is ascer- 
tained are the following: 1. The ancient lexicons and dic- 
tionaries; — 2. The ancient and modern translations of the 
New Testament;— 3. The ancient customs of the church; — 
4. The place and circumstances of baptizing, as mention- 
ed in the New Testament; — and 5. The allusions to this 
ordinance and the expositions of it in the apostolic epistles. 
To each of these we shall do little more than simply advert 
on the present occasion. 

1. The ancient lexicons with one consent, give immersion 
as ihe natural, common, and primary sense of this word. 
There is not known to us a single exception. Nor is there 
a received lexicon, ancient or modern, that does ever trans- 



58 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

late this word by the terms sprinkling, or pouring. And as 
there are but three actions allowed to be Christian baptism; 
and as the original words, both verbs and nouns, are trans- 
lated immerse and immersion, in all lexicons, and never, 
sprinkle or pour; follows it not then, that neither sprinkling, 
nor pouring is Christian baptism? The question is not, 
whether these words are ever, like other words, used figur- 
atively: whether they may not met onymic ally mean, wetting 
or washing: for these may be the effects of either sprink- 
ling, pouring, or dipping. The question is not, whether 
these words may so be used: but the question is, whether 
the action commanded in baptizo, be sprinkling, pouring, or 
immersing a person. Ail authorized Greek dictionaries, 
ancient and modern, with one consent, affirm that action to 
be immersion; and not sprinkling or pouring. 

2. All Latin, English, German, and French versions which 
we have seen, and we believe on the testimony of others, all 
that we have not seen, sometimes translate these words, their 
derivatives, or compounds, by words equivalent to immer- 
sion: but on no occasion ever translate them by sprinkling, 
or pouring, or any word equivalent to these terms. This is 
an evidence of great moment: for if these versions, have 
nineteen times in twenty been made by those who practise 
sprinkling or pouring in the name of the Lord; and if these 
words occur about one hundred and twenty times in the 
New Testament, is it not very singular that never once 
have such translators rendered the words by sprinkling, or 
pouring? a decisive proof in our judgment that it could not 
be so translated. Indeed, a mere English scholar, who has 
only heard that baptism is a Greek word, may indubitably 
ascertain that it means neither sprinkling nor pouring, by 
substituting the definition for the term, and trying its sense 
in all places where this ordinance is spoken of. This is an 
infallible canon of interpretation. The proper definition of 
a term substituted for it will always make as good sense as 
Hie term itself. Now, if an English reader will try sprink- 
ling or pouring in those places where he finds the word bap- 
tism, he will soon discover that neither of these words can 
possibly represent it, if the above canon b^ true. For in- 
stance, we are told, that all Judea and Jerusalem went out to 
John and were baptized o{ him in the Jordan. Sprinkled 
them in the Jordan! poured them in the Jordan! immersed 
them in the Jordan. Can any one doubt, which of these 
truly represents the original in such passages? 1 may 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 59 

sprinkle or pour water upon a person; but to sprinkle or 
pour them into water is impossible. It is not said he bap- 
tized water upon them, but he baptized them in water, in the 
river. 

.3 The ancient church, it is admitted on all hands, prac- 
tised immersion. It did so, Romans, Greek, and English 
historians being worthy of any credit. 

4. The places where baptism was anciently administered, 
being rivers, pools, baths, and places of much water, show 
that it was not sprinkling or pouring. They went down 
into the water, and came up out of it, &c. And John bap- 
tized where there were many waters or much water. And 
even Paul and Silas went out of the Philiipian jail to baptize 
the jailor at night, rather than send for a cup of water! 

5. It is also alluded to and explained under the figure 
of a burial and ressurrection, as relating to the death, burial, 
and resurrection of Jesus, &c. Rom. vi. and Col. ii. 

From these topics many clear and conclusive arguments 
may be drawn, on which it is not now our business to 
dwell. If, indeed, any one of these five topics be correct, 
the action that Christ commands is forever decided. How 
much more, when they all concur in asserting the same 
interpretation! There is, then, but one baptism, and not 
two under the Christian administration. 

THE SUBJECT OF BAPTISM. 

IV. Characters not persons, as such, are the subjects of 
baptism. Penitent believers — not infants nor adults, not 
males nor females, not Jews nor Greeks; but professors of 
repentance towards God, and faith in Jesus Christ are the 
proper subjects of this ordinance . "To as many as received 
him, to them he granted privilege of becoming the sons of 
God, to them that believed on his name, which were born 
not of flesh, nor of blood, nor of the will of man, but of 
God." "He that believeth, and is baptized — not he that is 
baptized and believeth, shall be saved." "Many of the Co- 
rinthians hearing, believed and were baptized," not many of 
the Corinthians were baptized and then believed, and finally 
heard the Gospel ! "for without faith it is impossible to please 
God," &c. 

THE MEANING OF BAPTISM. 

V, "In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in 
the wilderness of Judea, the baptism of repentance, for the 
remission of sins." "And Jesus said that repentance and 



60 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

remission of sins should be preached in his name among 
all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." Therefore, Peter 
said to the penitent Pentecostians, "Repent, and be baptized 
every one of you, in the name of the Lord Jesus, for the re- 
mission of sins." Again, "As many of you as have been 
baptized or immersed into Christ, have put on Christ, have 
been immersed into his death;" "have risen with him." 

VI. Baptism is, then, designed to introduce the subjects 
of it into the participation of the blessings of the death and 
resurrection of Christ; who "died for our sins," and "rose 
again for our justification." But it has no abstract efficacy. 
Without previous faith in the blood of Christ, and deep and 
unifeigned repentance before God, neither immersion in wa- 
ter nor any other action can secure to us the blessings of 
peace and pardon. It can meiit nothing. Still to the be- 
lieving penitent it is the means of receiving a formal, distinct, 
and specific absolution, or release from guilt. Therefore, 
none but those who have first believed the testimony of 
God and repented of their sins, and that have been inteli- 
gently immersed into his death, have the full and explicit 
testimony of God, assuring them of pardon. To such only 
as are truly penitent, dare we say, 'Arise and be baptized, 
and wash away your sins, calling upon the name of the 
Lord;' and to such only can we say with assurance, 'You 
are washed, you are justified, you are sanctified in the name 
of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of God." But let the 
reader examine with care our special essay on the Ren - 
sion of Sins, in which this much debated subject is discussed 
at considerable length. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



THE CHRISTIAN CONFESSION OF FAITH. 



I. The only apostolic and divine confession of faith which 
God, the Father of all, has laid for the church — and that 
on which Jesus himself said he would build it, is the sub- 
lime and supreme proposition: That Jesus of Nazareth 
is the Messiah, the Son of the LrviNG God. This is the 
peculiarity of the Christian system: its specific attribute. 



THE CHRISTIAN STSTE3I. 61 

The antediluvian Abel, Enoch, &c 9 believed that a Son of 
Eve would bruise Satarrs head. Abraham, Jsaac, and Ja- 
cob believed that a peculiar son of theirs would be the 
child of blessings, the Son of promise to the human race. 
Indeed, Jesse, David, and all the Prophets, looked for one 
from the sceptred tribe, who would be king of all the earth, 
and a benefactor of humanity. John the Baptist, in his 
day, preached and believed that the Messenger of the cove- 
nant of eternal peace was immediately to appear. But the 
disciples of Jesus, of Mary, believed and confessed that he 
was the identical person. "We have found him of whom 
Moses in the law, and all the Prophets did write; Jesus of 
Nazareth, the Son of David, the King of Israel." "Rabbi," 
said Nathaniel, "thou art the Son of God, thou art the King 
of Israel." But yet it remained for Peter to speak fully and 
expressly, the very proposition which contains the whole 
matter. "We believe and are sure that thou art the Mes- 
siah, the Son of the living God*" ,4 On this rock," responded 
he, with a blessing upon Peter's name and head: "On this 
rock 1 will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall 
not prevail against it." Of this foundation, Paul has said, 
"other foundation can no man lay than that which is al- 
ready laid, which is Jesus Christ." God himself laid this 
corner, this tried and precious stone; as the foundation of 
the temple of grace; and therefore with his own lips pro- 
nounced him his beloved Son; and sealed him by the visible 
Hescent and impress of his Spirit, as his Messiah, the Mes- 
i anger of Life and Peace to a condemned and rebellious 
world. 

II. This confession of faith has in it two distinct ideas — 
the one concerning the person, the other concerning the 
office of the Son of Man. The one asserts his divine rela^ 
tions, the other his official rank and glory. No one can in- 
telligently believe this proposition, and not turn to God 
with all his heart: for there is in it a thousand thoughts and 
motives, to bind the soul to God, and melt it into the most 
affectionate devotion . There is also in it the strongest bond 
to secure the affections of all Christians to one another. 
There is no other confession of faith, on which the church 
can be built, on which it can possibly stand one and undivi- 
ded, but on this one. With the heart man believes this pro- 
position in order to justification; and with hi3 mouth he 
maketh this confession of it in order to his salvation. So 
Paul explains it, Rom. x; and thus we have one Lord, one 

6 



62 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

faith, and one baptism, among the immutable reasons why 
Christians should maintain unity of spirit in the bonds of 
peace.* 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

CONVERSION, REGENERATION. 



I. The change which is consummated by immersion, is 
sometimes called in sacred style, "being quickened" or 
"made alive" "passing from death to lift" "being born 
again" "having risen with Christ" "turning to the Lord" 
"ieing enlightened" "conversion" "reconciliation" "repen- 
tance unto life." These, like the words propitiation, atone- 
ment, reconciliation, expiation, redemption, expressive of 
the various aspects which the death of Christ sustains, are 
expressive of the different relations in which this great 
change, sometimes called a "new creation," may be contem- 
plated. The entire change effected in man by the Christian 
system, consists in four things: — a change of views; a 
change of affections; a change of state; and a change of 
life. Now, in respect of each of these separately or in 
comoination, it is called by different names. As a change 
of vieius, it is called "being enlightened ;" "Once you were 
darkness, now are you light in the Lord; walk as children 
of the light," "After that you were enlightened," &c. As 
a change of the affections, it is called "being reconciled;" 
thus, "for if when we were enemies we were reconciled to 
God by the death of his Son, much more being reconciled 
we shall be saved through his life." As a change of state, 
it is called a "being quickened;" "passing from death to life," 
"being born again," "having risen with Christ," "And you 
hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins," 
"By this we know we have passed from death to life, because 
we love the brethren," "Being born again, not of corrupti- 
ble, but of incorruptible seed, by the word of God, which 
liveth and abideth forever." "If you be," or "since you are 
risen with Christ, set your affections on things above, not on 
things on the earth." As a change of life it is called w re- 

* See tljR essay on the Foundation of Christian Union snd Communion 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 63 

pentance unto life," "turning to the Lord," "conversion;" 
"Then God has granted to the Gentiles repentance to life." 
"And all that dwelt in Lydda and Saron, saw Eneas and 
turned to the Lord." "Except you be converted, and become 
as children, you shall notenter into the kingdom of heaven." 
"When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren." "He 
that converts a sinner from the error of his way shall save 
a soul from death and hide a multitude of sins." 

II. Great confusion has been introduced into the Chris- 
tian community by a confounding of these terms, making 
only one of them to mean all the others. Witness the con- 
troversy about regeneration; as if that word were used in 
sacred Scripture in reference to the entire change effected 
by the Christian system; whereas, in strict propriety, it 
is never used by itself in the Bible to represent any part of 
this change, much less, the whole of it. We have the 
phrase "washing of regeneration" once, in contradistinc- 
tion from the "renewal of the holy Spirit," (Titus iii. 5.,) but 
never, by itself, as indicative of this four-fold change. But 
suppose it should be conceeded, that the term regeneration 
might be just equivalent to "being born again" it could 
even then only represent so much of this change as respects 
mere state: for the figure of a new birth applies merely to 
admission into a family or nation; and not to the process of 
quickening or making alive of the person so admitted. It 
can, then, in strict propriety, only apply to the fourth part of 
that change which the gospel of salvation proposes and 
effects. Being born again is, or may be the effect of a change 
of views, of a change of affections; or it may be the cause 
of a change of life; but certain it is, it is not identical with 
any of them, and can never represent them all. 

III. But may it not include them all? It is impossible: 
for however we might extend the figure and suppose it to 
include its causes, it cannot also include its effects. If it 
should include a change of views, and a change of affec- 
tions, and a change of state, it cannot include a change of 
life, or of character. We ought then to use this word in its 
strict and scriptural acceptance, if we would escape the 
great confusion now resting upon this subject. The sophis- 
try or delusion of this confusion is, that making regenera- 
tion equivalent to the entire change instead of to the one- 
fourth part of it, the community will be always imposed 
on and misled by seeking to find the attributes of conversion 
in the new birth, or of the new birth in conversion; and so 



64 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

of all the others. Being born again is not conversion, nor 
a change of views, nor a change of affections, but a change 
of state. True, indeed, that of the person who is born 
again we may suppose a change of views, a change of heart, 
and we may infer a change of character, and may there- 
fore say he is enlighted, renewed in heart, converted as well 
as born again ; but this license respecting the person, the 
subject of the change, is not allowed in talking of the change 
itself. A Christian is, indeed, one whose views are enlight- 
ened, whose heart is renewed, whose relations to God and 
the moral universe are changed, and whose manner of life 
is according to righteousness and true holiness. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



CHRISTIANS ARE PERSONS PARDONED, JUSTIFIED, SANCTIFIED^ 
ADOPTED, SAVED. 



I. While adjusting the most important terms and phrases 
in the Christian system, in order to a more perspicuous and 
comprehensive intelligence of it, it is expedient that we 
should also advert to other predicates of the genuine Chris- 
tian. The five terms at the head of this chapter are all in- 
dicative of his state; and do not include any attributes of 
his character. 

II. These predicates are but so many counterpart aspects 
of a new state in reference to an old one; or they represent 
the gospel as affecting the position of man in the universe 
in all those points in which sin affected him. Was he guilty, 
condemned, unholy, alien, and lost, in Adam the first? 
When in Adam the second, he is just in an opposite state ;— 
he is pardoned wherein he was guilty — justified wherein 
he was condemned — sanctified wherein he was unholy — 
adopted wherein he was alien — and saved wherein he was 
lost. Sin, then, condemns, pollutes, alienates, and destroys 
its subjects. Grace justifies, sanctifies, adopts, and saves 
its subjects in reference to the&e points. Pardon has respect 
to guilt; justification, to condemnation; sanctification, to 
pollution; adoption, to alienation; and salvation, to destruc- 
tion. Those out of Christ, are then, in their sins, condemn 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 65 

ed, unholy, alien, and lost; while those in Christ are par- 
doned, justified, sanctified, adopted into the family of God, 
and saved. 

III. In former dispensations, and in the present, two 
things are immutable as respects the preparation for a 
change of state, while the act by which that change is for- 
mally consummated is not necessarily immutable. Thus, 
in reference to actual transgression, faith and repentance, 
in all dispensations of religion, were necessary to forgiveness, 
justification, sanctification, adoption, salvation. In one 
word, God cannot forgive an impenitent and unbelieving 
transgressor. But whether this or that act shall consum- 
mate a change of state, as respects man's relations to the 
moral universe; whether that act shall be circumcision, 
animal sacrifice, baptism, confession, prayer, &c, is not 
from any necessity, either in the divine or human nature, 
immutable. It has been changed; but faith in God's ap- 
pointments, and repentance for past transgressions, are now, 
always were, and ever more shall be, necessary to forgive- 
ness. 

IV. The philosophy or reason of this is, that faith and 
repentance change the state of man's heart to God; and if 
there was no universe beyond God and the sinner, all farther 
acts respecting it would be uncalled for. But as respects 
the condition of sinners in the universe, and their views, 
affections, relations, and manner of life, more than faith and 
repentance, or a change of views and feelings, is necessary 
to actual, and sensible, and formal pardon, justification, sanc- 
tification, adoption, and the salvation of the soul from sin. 
Hence came the ordinances of baptism, confession, prayer, 
fasting, and intercession. 

V. It is wise and kind on the part of Heaven to ordain 
such acts, or to institute such ordinances as will assure our- 
selves and others of our new relations; and to suspend our 
enjoyment of the favor and love of God, not merely upon 
faith and penitence, or any other mental operation ; but upon 
certain clear, overt acts, such as baptism, confession, prayer, 
&C, which affect ourselves and others, much more than 
they possibly can affect God himself; being the fruit of our 
faith, or perhaps, rather, only the perfecting of our faith in 
the promises of God. 



Gf> THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 



CHAPTER XX. 



THE GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 



I. Having spoken of three things which God has done for 
us, and of three things which we must do for ourselves, we 
are now come to the proper place to consider other aids 
which our heavenly Father tenders to us, just at this point. 
"He has provided a Lamb for a sin offering, 7 ' and "Jesus has 
full atonement made. 155 Fie has also given to us the light of 
life"-— the words of Jesus faithfully written out; and he has 
invested him as the Son of Man, with all authority, celestial 
and terrestrial, that he may lead many sons to glory, and 
give eternal life to all that are given him. 

H. We also have believed ail this; repented of our sins, 
and been immersed into Christ. We have assumed him as 
our Leader — our Prophet, Priest, and King; and put ourselves 
under his guidance. Having disowned the great apostate 
and his ranks, and enlisted under the Messiah, and taken 
sides with the Lord's Anointed 5 he now proposes to put 
his Holy Spirit within us, to furnish us for the good fight of 
faith, and to anoint us as the sons and heirs of God. 

III. Some will ask, Has not this gift been conferred on us 
to make us Christians. True, indeed, no man can say, that 
Jesus is Lord but by the Holy Spirit. As observed in its 
proper place, the Spirit of God is the perfecter, and finisher 
of ail divine works, "The Spirit of God moved upon the 
waters;" "The hand of the Lord has made me, the Spirit of 
the Almighty has given me life;" "By his Spirit he has gar- 
nished the heavens, his hand has formed the crooked serpent," 
the milky way; "The Spirit descended upon him;" "God 
himself bore the apostle witness, by divers miracles and 
gifts of the Holy Spirit according to his will;^ "Holy men 
of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit;" 
"When the Spirit of truth, the Advocate is come, he will 
convict the world of sin, because they believe not on me, 
and of justification, because I go to my Father;" "God was 
manifest in the flesh and justified by the Spirit." 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 67 

IV. The Spirit of God inspired all the spiritual ideas in 
the New Testament, and confirmed them by miracles; and 
he is ever present with the word that he inspired. He de- 
scended from heaven on the day of Pentecost, and has not 
formally ascended since. In the sense in which he descend- 
ed he certainly has not ascended: for he is to animate 
and inspire with new life the church or temple of the Lord. 
"Know you not," you Christians, "that your bodies are 
temples of the living God;" "The temple of God is holy, 
which temple you are;" "If the Spirit of him that raised 
up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, God shall quicken your 
mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you" &c. 

V. Now we cannot separate the Spirit and word of God, 
and ascribe so much power to the one and so much to the 
other: for so did not the Apostles. Whatever the word does, 
the Spirit does; and what ever the Spirit does in the work of 
converting men, the word does. We neither believe nor 
teach abstract Spirit nor abstract word — but word and Spi- 
rit, and Spirit and word. 

VI. But the Spirit is not promised to any persons out of 
Christ. It is promised only to them that believe in and obey 
him. These it actually and powerfully assits in the mighty 
struggle for eternal life. Some, indeed, ask, 'Do Christians 
need more aid to gain eternal life — than sinners do to be 
come Christians? Is not the work of conversion a more 
difficult work than the work of sanctification ? Hence, they 
contend more for the work of the Spirit in conversion, than 
for the work of the Spirit in sanctification. This, indeed, is 
a mistaken view of the matter, if we reason either from 
analogy or from divine testimony. Is it not more easy to 
plant, than to cultivate the com, the vine, the olive? Is it 
not more easy to enlist in the army, than to be a good soldier, 
and fight the battles of *he Lord; to start in the race, than 
reach the goal ; to enter the ship than cross the ocean ; to be 
naturalized, than to become a good citizen; to enter into the 
matrimonial compact than be an exemplary husband; to 
enter life, than to retain and sustain it for three score years 
and tea 1 And while the commands, "believe" "repent," bud 
"he baptized " are never accompanied with any intimation of 
peculiar difficulty; the commands to the use of the means 
of spiritual health and life; to form the Christian charac- 
ter; to attain to the resurrection of the just; to lay hold on 
eternal life; to make our calling and election sure, &c, 
are accompanied with such exhortations, admonitions, cau- 



08 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

tions, as to make it a difficult and critical affair, requiring 
all the aids of the Spirit of our God, to all the means of 
grace and untiring assiduity and perseverance on our part* 
for it seems, "the called," who enter the stadium are many, 
while "the chosen" and approved "are few;" and many, 
says Jesus, "shall seek to enter into the heavenly city, and 
shall not be able;" "Let us labor, therefore, to enter into 
that rest lest any man fall after the same example of unbe- 
lief." 

VII. Sanctification in one point of view, is unquestiona- 
bly a progressive work. To sanctify is to set apart; this 
may be done in a moment, and so far as mere state or rela- 
tion is concerned, it is as instantaneous as baptism. But 
there is the formation of a holy character: for there is a holy 
character as well as a holy state. The formation of such a 
character is the work of means; "Holy Father," said Jesus, 
"sanctify them, [my disciples,] through thy truth; thy word 
is the truth;" "And the very God of peace sanctify you 
wholly," says Paul to the Thessalonians, "and I pray God 
your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless 
to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." Christians, then, 
are to "follow peace with all men, and sanctification, with- 
out which no one shall see the Lord." Therefore, it is the 
duty and the work of Christians, "to perfect holiness in the 
fear of the Lord." 

VIII. This requires aid. Hence, assistance is to be pray- 
ed for; and it is promised. Now as the Spirit of God, under 
the administration of Christ, is the author of all holiness in 
us — he is called the "Holy Spirit," "the Spirit of holiness." 
Hence, while we have the phrase "Holy Ghost" or Spirit, 
ninety-f our times in the Christian Scriptures, it is found only 
three times in all the Jewish writings. The Holy Spirit is, 
then, the author of all our holiness; and in the struggle after 
victory over sin and temptation, "it helps our infirmities" 
and comforts us by seasonably bringing to our remembrance 
the promises cf Christ, and "strengthens us with all might, 
in the new or inner man." And thus "God works in us to 
will and to do of his own benevolence," "while we are work- 
ing out Our own salvation with fear and trembling." Chris- 
tians are, therefore, clearly and unequivocally temples of 
the Hoiy Spirit; and they are quickened, animated, encour- 
aged, and sanctified by the power and influence of the Spi- 
rit of God, working in them through the truth. 

IX. God "gives hi3 Holy Spirit to them who ask him," 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 69 

according to his revealed will; and without this gift no one 
could be saved or ultimately triumph over all opposition. 
He knows but little of the deceitfulness of sin, or of the 
combatting of temptation, who thinks himself competent to 
wrestle against the allied forces of the world, the flesh and 
the devil. Hence, the necessity of "supplications, depreca- 
tions, intercessions, and thanksgivings," of praying always 
with all prayer and supplication in the Holy Spirit, and 
watching thereunto with all perseverance, and of making 
supplication for all saints our fellow soldiers in this good 
warfare. 

X. To those, then, who believe, repent, and obey the gos- 
pel, he actually communicates of his Good Spirit. The fruits 
of that spirit in them, are love, joy, peace, long suffering, 
gentleness, goodness, fidelity, meekness, temperance." The 
attributes of character which distinguish the new man, are 
each of them communications of the Holy Spirit, and thus 
are we the sons of God in fact, as well as in title, under the 
dispensation of the Holy Spirit. 

XI. We have, then, every thing done for us, after our con- 
version, which we need in order to that "holiness without 
which no one shall see the Lord." Thus God has provided 
for us a sin offering; a prophet to expound it; a priest to 
present it; a king, with universal dominion, to govern, and 
protect all that by it are reconciled to God. And when 
through faith, repentance, and baptism, we have assumed 
him as our rightful Sovereign, by his Holy Spirit, in answer 
to our prayers, he works in us, and by us, and for us, all that 
is needful to our present, spiritual, and eternal salvation. 



CHAPTER XXI. 



THE CHEISTIAN HOPE. 



I. "Beloved, now are we the sons of God; and it does not 
yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he 
shall appear, we shall be like him — that we shall see him 
as he is. And every one that has this hope in him, purifies 
himself even as he is pure." "God has predestinated us to 
be conformed to the image of his Son." "I reckon that the 



70 THE CHRISTIAN 8YSTEM. 

sufferings of this life are not worthy to be compared with 
the glory that shall be revealed in us." "He hath begotten 
us again to a lively hope; to an inheritance incorruptible, 
undenled, and that fadeth not away." So testify three 
Apostles — John, Paul, and Peter. The whole hope of the 
Christian may, indeed, be summed up in one sentence; "If 
children, then heirs — heirs of God, joint heirs with 
chbist." Immortality, eternal life, the riches of Christ, 
the glory, honor, wealth, and bliss of God's only begotten 
Son are to be equally participated with all his saints. 

II. The remedial system is, therefore, a moral creation in 
progress — a new creation of men unto good works, still ad- 
vancing; but its termination will be the stereotyping of in- 
dividual moral excellence by an instantaneous physical new 
creation of men at the resurrection of the just : or a manifes- 
tation of the sons of God in full redemption from the whole 
entail of sin; raised, refined, immortalized, glorified, and 
invested with eternal life. 

III. Hope differs from faith, in that it looks only forward to 
future objects. It looks not back, nor does it contemplate 
the present: "for" says Paul, "what a man sees, why does 
he yet hope for?" Nor looks it on all the future; but only 
on future good. It desires and expects good and nothing 
else. There is not one dark cloud, not one dark speck, in 
all the heavens of Christian hope. Every thing seen in its 
wide dominions, in the unbounded prospect yet before us, is 
bright, cheering, animating, transporting. It is all desira- 
ble and desired. It is all expected. It is all "earnest ex- 
pectation;" not a doubtful, but a "confident expectation of 
things" desirable, and to be "hoped for " 

IV. It is not what some in this age call "the hope" i. e., 
the desirable expectancy of pardon of their past transgres- 
sions: for none but those who are now actually pardoned 
are the subjects of this hope. "If our heart condemn us, 
then indeed, we have no confidence;" so no confident ex- 
pectation, no hope of eternal life. The mere posibility of 
an event is no foundation of hope. Hope deals not in 
possibilities, nor indeed much in probabilities— unless they 
are very strong probabilities. Conjectures, peradventures, 
possibilities, probabilities, are not of the essence of Chris- 
tian hope. It rests on covenants, charters, promises, oaths, 
tendered by the Eternal Source of almighty truth and love. 
These are good securities; and produce assurance. Hence, 
hope is the assurance of future good in expectation. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 71 

V, There are, indeed, various degrees of hope; but in 
the least degree of it there is desire combined with expecta- 
tion. Things expected are not always desirable, nor are 
things desirable always to be expected : but hope embraces 
promises that are desirable, and also expects the enjoyment 
of them. Hence, hope, like faith and love, may grow exceed- 
ingly. When based on the promises of God, and on an ha 
bitual patient conformity to his will, it will keep pace with 
our growing intelligence of the character of God; of the 
fulness and richness of the promises, and in the persuasion 
of our actual devotion to the manifestations of that will. 

VI. But the things hoped for by the Christian are beyond 
description. Eye, indeed, has not seen, ear has not heard, 
the human heart has not conceived the glories of the resur- 
rection of the just; — the new bodies, the new heavens, the 
new earth, the New Jerusalem, the new society, the new 
pleasures: for according to his promise we look for (expect) 
new heavens and new earth in which righteous persons 
alone shall dwell. Thus terminates the remedial system on 
all its happy subjects. "It lifts the beggar from the dust, 
and the wretched from the dunghill, and sets them among 
princes, amongst the nobles of the universe;' 5 the thrones, 
hierarchies, and lordships of the skies; in the presence of 
God, too, "where there is fulness of joy, and at his right 
hand where there are pleasures forever more." Such are the 
things to be done for those, for whom such things have al- 
ready been done as constitute the remedial system : for with 
Paul we must say: ' 6 He that spared not his own Son, but 
delivered him up to the death for us all; how shall he not 
with him also freely give us all things?" "All things are 
yours, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, 
or life, or death, or things present, or things to come, all are 
yours; and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's." 



CHAPTER XXII. 

THE DOOM OF THE WICKED. 

1. There are two classes of men in this world. They 
are often and in various manners contradistinguished from 
each other. They are called the righteous and the wicked, 



72 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

the saints and the sinners, the holy and the unholy, the good 
and the bad, he that feareth God, and he that feareth him 
not. Of the one class many things are predicated which 
are not predicated of the other. Of the one it is said, that 
they are "in Christ," justified, sanctified, saved, children of 
God, heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ, an elect race, a 
royal priesthood, a peculiar people. Of the other class, 
these things are never predicated in the Bible. They are 
not in Christ, not justified, not sanctified, not saved; chil- 
dren of the devil, "children of wrath," not an elect race, 
not a royal priesthood, not a peculiar people, 

II. These have not been reconciled to God through the 
propitiation of his Son. They are still enemies of God in 
heart. And for them that loved darkness rather than light, 
and would not have God's Son to be their Saviour, he has 
appointed a day of judgment; a day for the ultimate perdi- 
tion of ungodly men. Then they shall perish "with an ever- 
lasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from 
the glory of his power, when he shall come to be glorified 
in ail his saints, and to be admired by all the believers." 
Then will the King say to them on his left hand, "Depart 
you cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and 
his angels," They are the allies of Satan in his rebellion 
against God, and have spent ail their energies and fortunes 
on his side of the question; and therefore it is reasonable 
that they should have their ultimate portion with him. 

III. Of this judgment, Enoch, the seventh from Adam, 
prophesied, saying, "Behold the Lord cometh with ten thou- 
sand of his saints, to execute judgment upon ail, and to 
convict all that are ungodly among them of all their ungod- 
ly deeds, which they have ungodly committed, and of all 
their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken 
against him." God had, then, long before the Christian 
era — from the formation of the world, "appointed a day in 
which he will judge the world, (the whole world,) right- 
eously by Jesus Christ," whom he has constituted Judge of 
all the dead as well as of all the living. 

IV. "It is, indeed, appointed to men once to die, and after 
this the judgment." The judgment consequent upon death, 
is not the general but the particular judgment of individu- 
als, as the phrase would seem to indicate, whose spirits re- 
turning to God are judged and instantly rewarded, so far as 
in a separate state they can be the subjects of reward or 
punishment. But the "judgment of the great day" is for 



TH3 CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 73 

another purpose: not as some profanely say, "to bring men 
out of heaven and hell to judge and remand them back again ;" 
but in the presence of an assembled world to vindicate the 
administrations of the moral government and providence of 
God, to develope the real characters of angels and of men, 
and to pronounce an irrevocable sentence upon all accord- 
ing to their works. For, says Paul, "we must all appear 
before the tribunal of Christ, that every one may receive, in 
his body, the things he has done, whether good or bad. 1 ' It 
is, then, because of the actual and public pronunciation and 
execution of this judgment, that the last day is called "the 
day or judgment," and that the judgment itself is called 

"THE JUDGMENT OF THE GREAT DAY." 

V. This final judgment and "perdition of ungodly men" 
is set forth by the Lord himself, as well as by his Apostles, in 
the clearest and strongest terms, and in the boldest and most 
appalling imagery which human speech and human know- 
ledge can afford. Indeed, to place this awfully sublime and 
glorious day in full array before the perceptive powers of 
man, is impossible. The best efforts have exhausted the 
powers of nature in all her wonted energies, John, in his 
sublime visions of the last actsof the great drama of human 
existence, says, "I saw a great white throne, and him that 
sat on it, from whose face earth and heaven fled away, and 
there was found no room for them. And 1 saw the dead, 
small and great, stand before God; and the books were open- 
ed: and another book was opened, which is called the Book 
of Life; and the dead w T ere judged out of the things that 
were written in those books, according to their works. And 
the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and 
the grave* gave up the dead which were in them; and they 
were judged every one according to his works: and death 
and the grave were cast into the lake of fire. This is the 
second death. And whosoever was not found written in the 
Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire." Surely "it is 
a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

SUMMARY VIEW OF THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM OF FACTS. 

I. God alone is self-existent and eternal* Before earth 
and time were born he operated by hi. Worn) and his Spirit. 

* Hades. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

God, the Word of God, and the Spirit of God, par- 
ticipants of one and the same nature, are the foundations of 
Nature, Providence, and Redemption. In Nature and Pro* 
mdence, it is God, the Word, and the Spirit, In Grace, it 
is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Ail crea- 
tions, providences, and remedial arrangements display to us 
the co-operation of three divine participants, of one 
self-existent, independent, incommunicable nature. These 
are fundamental conceptions of all the revelations and 
developments of the Divinity, and necessary to all rational 
and sanctifying views of religion. 

U. In the Law and in the Gospel these sacred and myste- 
rious relations and personal manifestations of God are pre- 
supposed and assumed as the basis of the whole procedure, 
"God created all things by Jesus Christ, and for him." "The 
Word was in the beginning with God," "before ail things," 
and "by him all things consist." "God created man up- 
right." Man sinned: all became mortal: our nature became 
susceptible of evil. It is in this respect fallen and depraved. 
"There is none righteous — no, not one." God the Father 
has chosen men in Christ to salvation "through the sancti- 
fication of the Spirit unto obedience, and sprinkling of the 
blood of Jesus; and "promised," to such, "eternal life before 
the foundation of the world." 

III. Therefore, in "the fulness of time"— "in due time, 
God sent forth his Son, made of a woman" — for "the Word 
became flesh, and dwelt among us; and we beheld his glory, 
the glory as of an only begotten of the Father, full of grace 
and truth." "He showed us the Father." He died as a sin- 
offering— was buried, rose again the third day — ascended to 
heaven— presented his offering in the true Holy Place- 
made expiation for our sins— "forever sat down on the right 
hand of the Supreme Majesty in the heavens"— sent down 
his Holy Spirit— inspired his Apostles, who "preached with 
the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven"— persuaded many 
Jews and Gentiles that he was made "the author of an 
eternal salvation to all who obeyed him." He commanded 
faith, repentance, and baptism to be preached in his name 
for remission of sins to every nation and people under 
heaven. 

IV. All who "believe in him are justified from all things ;" 
because this faith is living, active, operative, and perfected 
by "obeying from the heart that mould of doctrine delivered 
to us." Hence such persons repent of their sins, and obey 



PHE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 75 

the gospel. They receive the Spirit of God, and the promise 
of eternal life — -walk in the Spirit, and are sanctified to God, 
and constituted heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. 
They shall be raised from the dead incorruptible, immortal, 
and shall live forever with the Lord; while those "who know 
not God, and obey not the gospel of his Son, shall perish 
with an everlasting destruction from the presence of the 
Lord and from the glory of his power.' 5 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



THE BODY OF CHRIST. 

I. That institution which separates from the world, and 
consociates the people of God into a peculiar community; 
having laws, ordinances, manners, and customs of its own, 
immediately derived from the Saviour of the world, is called 
the congregation or church of the Lord. This is sometimes 
technically called the mystical body of Christ, contradistin- 
guished from his literal and natural body. Over this spiritual 
body he is the Head, the King, Lord, and Lawgiver, and 
they are severally members of his body, and under his direc- 
tion and government. 

II. The true Christian church, or house of God, is com- 
posed of all those iu every place that do publicly acknow- 
ledge Jesus of Nazareth as the true Messiah, and the only 
Saviour of men; and, building themselves upon the founda- 
tion of the Apostles and Prophets, associate under the consti- 
tution which he himself has granted and authorized in the 
New Testament, and are walking in his ordinances and 
commandments — and of none else. 

III. This institution, called the congregation of God, is a 
great community of communities — not a community repre- 
sentative of communities; but a community composed of 
many particular communities; each of which is built upon 
the same foundation, walks according to the same rules, 
enjoys the same charter, and is under the jurisdiction of no 
other community of Christians; but is to all other communi- 
ties as an individual disciple is to every other individual 
disciple in any one particular community meeting in any 
given place. 



/b THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

IV. Still, all these particular congregations of the Lori y 
whether at Rome, Corinth, or Ephesus, though equally inde; 
pendent of one another, as to the management of their own 
peculiar affairs; are, by virtue of one common Lord, one 
tatth, one baptism, and one common salvation, but one 
kingdom or church of God; and, as such, are under obliga- 
tions to co-operate with one another in all measures promo- 
tive of the great ends of Christ's death and resurrection. 

V. But, in order to this holy communion and co-operation 
of churches, it is indispensable that they have an intimate 
and approving knowledge of one another, which can only 
be had and enjoyed in the form of districts . Thus the "con- 
gregations in Judea" intimately knew one another, and co- 
operated. Those in Galatia also knew one another, and 
co-perated. And while some of the churches or brethren 
in each district were mutually acquainted with some in 
another, made the churches of both districts acquainted 
with one another, they were enabled to co-operate, to the 
ends of the earth. 

Vi. These districts aro a part of the circu?nstances of 
Christ's kingdom, as well as the manner of maintaining 
correspondence and co-operation among them, and the oc- 
casions and incidents requiring concert and conjoint action. 
For these, as well as for the circumstantials of any particu- 
lar community, the Apostles gave no specific directions. It 
was, indeed, impossible they could : for as the circumstances 
of particular communities, and of the whole church, vary at 
different times and places, no one set of particular, sectional? 
or intersectional regulations could suit all these peculiarities 
and emergencies. These, then are necessarily left to the 
wisdom and discretion of the whole community, as the pecu- 
liar exigencies and mutations of society may require. 

Vll. But in granting to the communities of the saints this 
necessary licence of deciding what is expedient, orderly, 
decent, and of public and practical utility in the circumstan- 
tials of Christianity, no allowance is implied authorizing any 
interference with a single item of the Christian institution. 
Hence the necessity of a very clear discrimination, not be- 
tween "the essentials and the non-essentials," for in Divine 
Christianity there are no non-essentials; but between the 
family of God and its circumstances — between the Christian 
institution and its accidents. Certain it is that there is a 
very manifest difference between any individual man, fami- 
ly, community, or institution, and its circumstances. What 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

more evident than the difference between a man and his 
apparel, his house, his neighborhood, his associations and 
connexions 

VIII. The Christian institution has its facts, its precepts, 
its promises, its ordinances, and their meaning or doctrine. 
These are not matters of policy, of arrangement, of expedi- 
ency; but of divine and immutable ordination and continu- 
ance. Hence the faith, the worship, and the righteousness; 
or the doctrine, the piety, and the morality of the gospel 
institution are not legitimate subjects of human legislation, 
alteration, or arrangement. No man nor community can 
touch these and be innocent. These rest upon the wisdom 
and authority of Jehovah; and he that meddles with these, 
presumes to do that which the cherubim and seraphim dare 
not. Whatever, then, is a part of the Christian faith or the 
Christian hope — whatever constitutes ordinances or pre- 
cepts of worship, or statutes of moral right and wrong, like 
the ark of the covenant, is not to be touched with uninspired 
and uncommissioned hands. 

IX. But whether we shall register the churches in a given 
district, or the members in a particular church; whether we 
shall meet oftener than once on the Lord's day, or at what 
hour, and in what sort of a house; whether we shall com- 
memorate the Lord's death forenoon or afternoon, before day 
or after night; whether we shall sit round one board, or in 
our respective pews; whether we shall sing from book or 
from memory, prose or verse, &c. &c.,are matters in which 
our conceptions of expediency, decency, and good order 
may have free scope. Also, whether the churches in a 
given district shall, by letter, messengers, or stated meet- 
ings, once or twice per annum, or oftener, communicate 
with one another; whether they shall send one, two, or 
twenty persons, or all go and communicate face to face, or 
send a letter; and whether they shall annually print, write, 
or publish their statistics, &c. &c. <fcc, are the mere cir- 
cumstantials of the Christian institution. 

X. But co-operation itself fs one thing, and the manner 
of co-operation another. Co-operation, as much as the inter- 
communion of Christians, is a part of the Christian institu- 
tion. We must "strive together in our prayers" for one 
another, and for the salvation of men; and this, if there 
were no scriptural example nor precept on the subject, is 
enough. To pray for one another as individuals or commu- 
nities, implies that we shall assist one another in every way 



78 THE CHE1SNIAN SYSTEM* 

for which we pray for one another: otherwise our prayers 
and thanksgivings for each other are mere hypocrisy. He 
that would pray for the progress of the truth at home and 
abroad, having it in his power to contribute a single dollar 
to that end, and yet withholds it, shows how little value he 
sets upon his own prayerSj and how much upon his money. 

XI. From the days of the Apostles till now co-operative 
associations of churches have uniformly followed the politi- 
cal distributions of the earth. Those "in Judea, Galatia, 
Achaia, Pontus, Cappadocia, Macedonia, Asia, Bythinia,^ 
&c. &c. are designations of churches and brethren familiar 
to all New Testament readers. This is a matter of conve- 
nience, rather than of necessity; just as the churches in 
Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, &c. can generally 
more conveniently and successfully co-operate by states 
and territories, than by any other divisions or precincts. I 
say, this is matter of convenience, rather than of necessity. 
It is of necessity that we co-operate, but of convenience 
that \\\q churches in one county, state, or nation, form 
vegu lar ways and means for co operation. 

iX. The necessity of co-operation is felt every where and 
in all associations of men. It is a part of the economy of 
Heaven. What are mountains, but grains of sand! What 
are oceans, but drops of water And what the mightiest and 
most triumphant armies, but collections of individual men! 
How much more good or ill may be done by co-operation, 
than by individual enterprize, the history of the world, both 
civil and ecclesiastic, does little more than detail. One 
hundred churches, well disciplined, acting in concert, with 
Christian zeal, piety, humanity— -frequently meeting toge- 
ther in committees of ways and means for building upZion* 
for fencing in the deserts, cultivating the enclosed fields^ 
watering the dry and barren spots, striving together mightily 
in prayer, in preaching the word, in contributing to the 
necessities of the saints, in enlightening the ignorant, and 
in devising all practicable ways of doing good— would, in a 
given period, do more than twice the same number acting in 
their individual capacity, without concert, without co-ope- 
ration, and that united energy, always the effect of intelligent 
and cordial combination. 

XIII. But, in order to this, Christians must regard the 
church, or body of Christ, as one community, though com- 
posed of many small communities, each of which is an or- 
ganized member of this great national organization; which. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 79 

under Christ, as the supreme and sole Head, King, Lord, 
and Lawgiver, has the conquest of the whole world in its 
prayers, aims, plans, and efforts. Hence there must be such 
an understanding and agreement between these particular 
congregations as will suffice to a recognition and approval 
of their several acts; so that the members, or the measures 
of one community, shall be treated with the respect due to 
them at home, in whatever community they may happen to 
be presented. On this principle only can any number of 
independent and distinct communities of any sort — political, 
commercial, literary, moral, or religious — ant in concert 
with mutual advantage to themselves, and with a proper 
reference to the general good. 

XIV. Any one who seeks for apostolic sanctions for these 
views of co-operation, will find ample authority in the Acts 
and Epistles of the Apostles. Paul addresses "all the saints 
in Rome" in his Epistle to the Romans. Now in Rome 
there were sundry churches, as appears from chap. xvi. 5 5 
10, 11, 14, 15. These all he addresses as one single com- 
munity. Again he represents "all the churches of the Gen- 
tiles" as uniting in thanks to Priscilla and Aquila, chapter 
xvi. 4. He also represents "the churches of Christ" as 
uniting in salutations by him to the Romans, ver. 16. In 
his letters to the Corinthians he addresses the church of 
Corinth, "All the saints which are in all Achaia," and "all 
them in every place who call upon the name of Jesus Christ.** 
1 Cor. i. 2.; 2 Cor. 1. i. These he exhorts to "be perfectly 
joined together in the same mind and in the same judg- 
ments." 1 Cor. i. 10. "The churches in Asia united in 
their salutations to the Corinthians," chap. xvi. 19, He 
speaks in the 2d Epistle of all the churches in Achaia, as 
"helping together in prayer for him" and his companions^ 
and of their helping him on his way in the work of the Lord. 
In the 8th chapter he informs them of the grace of God be- 
stowed on "all the churches in Macedonia," evinced by the 
liberality of their united contributions for the saints. He 
also speaks of an equality in the mutual contributions of 
churches in one co-operation — and of a brother chosen by 
sundry communities to travel with the Apostles, vii. 14 18, 
19.; and of his accompanying brethren as "messengers of 
the churches ." The whole 9th chapter of this epistle speaks 
of the co-operation of the churches in public contributions 
for common objects. Paul, and all the brethren with him, 
unite in an epistle to "all the churches in Galatia." These 



80 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

he commands to "bear one another's burdens, and thus 
to fulfil the law of Christ." But, indeed, all the catholic 
epistles are unequivocal proofs that co-operation is of the 
very essence of the Christian institution. Such are some 
of Paul's epistles, both the epistles of Peter, the 1st of John, 
and that of James and Jude The very basis of such gene- 
ral or universal letters is the fact, that all the communities 
of Christ constitute but one body, and are individually and 
mutually bound to co-operate in all things pertaining to a 
common salvation. 



CHAPTER XXV, 



THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY, 

I. "He gave some apostles, some prophets, some evange- 
lists, some pastors, and teachers for the perfecting of the 
saints for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the 
body of Christ; till we all come in the unity of the faith^ 
and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto the measure 
of the stature of the fulness of Christ," &,c. For the setting 
up of the Christian institution officers extraordinary were 
needed. So was it in the Jewish, and so is it in every 
institution human and divine. But when an institution is 
set up, it only requires an ordinary ministry or administra- 
tion of its affairs. All the extraordinary gifts vouchsafed to 
Moses, and to the Apostles and Prophets of the gospel insti- 
tution ? ceased when these institutions were fully developed 
and established. Still a regular and constant ministry was 
needed amongst the Jews, and is yet needed among the 
Christians; and both of these by divine authority. 

II. Natural gifts for a natural state of things, and super- 
natural gifts for a supernatural state of things, are, in the 
wisdom of both God and man, apposite and needful. Hence, 
even in the apostolic age, there were officers without, as 
well as with, miraculous endowments. "Having, then, 
gifts differing according to the office, or grace that is given 
to us — if prophecy, let us prophesy according to the measure 
of our faith; or ministry, let us attend on our ministering; 
he that teacheth, on teaching; he that exhorteth, on exhor- 
tation; he that distributeth, with simplicity; he that ruleth, 



THE CnRISTlAN SYSTEM. 81 

with diligence.'" God has therefore conferred various gifts on 
the church for the effectual administration of its affairs. He 
has placed in it "helps and governments ," as well as Apostles 
and Prophets. 

III. The standing and immutable ministry of the Chris- 
tian community is composed of Bishops, Deacons, and Evan-* 
gelists. Of each of these there is but one order, though 
possessing great diversities of gifts. There have been 
bishops, deacons, and evangelists, with both ordinary and 
extraordinary gifts. Still the office is now, and ever was, 
the same. In ancient times official and unofficial persons 
sometimes possessed miraculous gifts. Those in high office 
were also generally of those most eminently gifted with 
extraordinary powers. Superficial readers have, therefore, 
sometimes concluded that, inasmuch as bishops, deacons* 
and especially evangelists, frequently possessed these mani- 
festations of the Holy Spirit, with the ceasing of those gifts, 
the offices themselves also expired. This is a great mistake* 
Officers there must be while there are offices, or services to 
be performed. So long as the human system needs sight, 
hearing, and feeling, there will be eyes, ears, and hands. 
So long also as the Christian body is an organized body, 
having many services to perform, it must have organs or 
officers by which to enjoy itself and operate on society. 

IV. There are, indeed, necessarily as many offices in 
every body as there are services to be performed to it, or by 
it. This is the root and reason of ail the offices in all the 
universe of God. Our planet needs diverse celestial ser- 
vices to be performed to it. Hence the sun, moon, and stars 
are celestial officers ministering to it. The eye, the ear, 
the tongue, the hand, the foot, are, for the same reason, 
officers in the human body, essentially serving it in its vital 
interests and enjoyments; and by means of these organs, it 
performs important functions to other bodies. 

V. Experience, as well as observation, has taught us 
that "practice makes perfect," and that "whatever is every 
person's business is no person's business." Hence arose 
the custom among men of communicating certain offices to 
particular individuals. The philosophy of such elections 
and ordinations is found in the fact, that special services are 
best performed by special organs or agents, whose special 
province and duty it is to attend to them. 

VX A3 the Christian system is a perfect system, it wisely 
provides for its own perpetuity and prosperity, by creating 



62 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

all necessary offices and filling them with suitable persons, 
We have said these offices are three, and of perpetual, be- 
cause of necessary existence. Bishops, whose offiee it is to 
preside over, to instruct, and to edify the community— ^-to 
feed the church of the Lord with knowledge and under- 
standing — and to watch for their souls as those that must 
give account to the Lord at his appearing and his kingdom, 
compose the first class. Deacons, or servants— whether 
called treasurers, almoners, stewards, door-keepers, or mes- 
sengers, constitute the second. For the term deacon origi- 
nally included all public servants whatever, though now 
most commonly confined to one or two classes; and impro- 
perly, no doubt, to those only who attend to the mere tempo. 
ral interests of the community. They are distinguished 
persons, called and commissioned by the church, (and con- 
sequently are always responsible to it,) to serve in any of 
these capacities. Evangelists, however, though a class of 
public functionaries created by the church, do not serve it 
directly ; but are by it sent out into the world, and constitute 
the third class of functionaries belonging to the Christian 
system. 

VII. As there is more scrupulosity on some minds con- 
cerning the third class of Evangelists, than concerning either 
Bishops or Deacons, we shall take occasion to speak more 
explicitly and fully upon the nature and necessity, as well 
as upon the authority of this office. Evangelists, as the 
term indicates, are persons devoted to the preaching of the 
word, to the making of converts, and the planting of churches. 
It is, indeed, found but three times in the New Covenant; 
but the verb from which it comes — viz, to evangelize, is in 
some of its branches found almost sixty times in that volume. 
"To evangelize" and "to do the work of an evangelist" are 
phrases of equal import, and indicate the same duties, rights, 
and privileges. 

Vilf. Among the offices which were comprehended in the 
apostleship, none required more varied endowments than 
that of the Evangelist. The gift of tongues were amongst 
the qualifications necessary to those who, after the ascen- 
sion, first undertook this work. But the qualifications for 
this office, so far as the gift of tongues or the knowledge of 
language is concerned, are not immutably fixed, it depends 
upon the field of labor which the Evangelist is to occupy, 
whether he must speak one language or more. His work is 
to proclaim the word intelligibly and persuasively — to im~ 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 63 

merse all the believers, or converts of his ministry — and to 
plant and organize churches wherever he may have occa- 
sion ; and then teach them to keep the commandments and 
ordinances of the Lord. 

JX. Take, for example, the sketch given us by Luke of 
the labors of Philip the Evangelist, one of the first who wore 
that designation. One of the seven ministers of the Jerusa- 
lem church, after his diaconate was vacated by the dispersion 
of that community, he commenced his evangelical labors, 
He turned his face towards Samaria, and preached and bap- 
tized amongst the Samaritans: for, we are told, when the 
Samaritans believed Philip preaching the things concerning 
the kingdom of God and the Lord Jesus, they were baptized 
both men and women. He also converted the Ethiopian 
Eunuch; and then passing from Azotus, he '''preached in all 
the cities till he came to Cesarea," where he afterwards re- 
sided. The next notice we have of him is found Acts xxi. 8. 
"We," says Luke, "who were of Paul's company, departed, 
and came into Cesarea, and entered into the house of Philip 
the Evangelist, one of the seven, and abode with him. He 
had four virgin daughters that did prophesy,' 5 Evident, 
then, it is that he obtained the title Evangelist from his 
itinerant labors in the gospel and in the converting of men. 
His possession of the gift of the Holy Spirit was no more 
peculiar to him as an evangelist, than as deacon of the church 
in Jerusalem; for w r hile in the diaconate of that church he 
seems to have been as full of the Holy Spirit as when visit- 
ing all the cities from Azotus to Cesarea. 

X. Convening converts into societies, and organizing 
them into worshipping assemblies, are inseparably connected 
with the right of converting men. Casually, in his letters to 
Timothy, Paul seems to define the work of an Evangelist, 
He says, "Preach the word; be instant in season, out of 
season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and 
teaching; endure affliction; do the v;ork of an Evangelist; 
fulfil thy ministry." "Let no man despise thy youth. Till 
I come give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to teach- 
ing. Neglect not the gift that is in thee, [or cultivate and 
exercise the office conferred upon thee,] according to pro- 
phecy — by the laying on of the hands of the presbytery or 
eldership." "Meditate upon these things; give thyself 
wholly to them, that thy profiling may appear to all: take 
heed to thyself and to thy teaching; continue in them: for 
in doing this, thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear 



84 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM, 

thee."* This seems to be the office of an Evangelist which 
the Lord gave the church after his ascension. 

XI. Setting things in order in the churches — the commit- 
ting the same office to faithful men, who shall be able to 
instruct others — the ordaining of elders, and a general 
superintendance of the affairs of churches, seem to have 
been also lodged in the hands of Timothy and Titus as 
agents of the Apostles. How far these works are yet neces- 
sary, and how far the superintendance of them may be safely 
lodged in th3 hands of select Evangelists as respects infant 
communities, may be, with many, a question of dubious inter- 
pretation. But that Evangelists are to separate into com- 
munities their own converts, t^ach and superintend them 
till they are in a condition to take care of themselves, is as 
unquestionably a part of the office of an Evangelist as pray- 
ing, or preaching, or baptizing. 

XII. But we shall be asked, 'Is not preaching and bap- 
tizing, and even teaching, the common privilege of all disci- 
ples, as they have opportunity ?' And we also ask in answer? 
*Is it not the privilege of all fathers to teach their own chil- 
dren, and to preside over their own families? But who will 
thence infer, that all fathers are teachers and presidents, 
does not more shock common sense, than he who infers that 
ail disciples, as such, are evangelists, pastors, and teachers, 
because we concede that in certain cases it is the privilege 
of all citizens of Christ's kingdom to preach, baptize, and 
teach. Every citizen of Christ's kingdom has, in virtue of 
his citizenship, equal rights, privileges and immunities. So 
has every citizen of the United States. Yet all citizens are 
not legislators, magistrates, judges, governors, &c. Before 
any community, civil or religious, is organized, every man 
has equal rights to do what seemeth good in his own eyes. 
But when organized, and persons appointed to office, then 
whatever rights, duties, or privileges are conferred on par- 
ticular persons, cannot of right belong to those who have 
transferred them; any more than a ;. erson cannot both give 
and keep the same thing. 

XIII. But there are some duties and privileges we cannot 
wholly communicate to others. Parents cannot wholly 
transfer the education of their chi'dren to others,- neither 
can a master transfer all his duties to a steward or overseen 
No more can the citizens of Christ's kingdom wholly transfer 
their duties to preach and teach Christ. To enlighten the 

* 1 Timothy iv, 2Timo?hyiv, 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM, 85 

ignorant, to persuade the unbelieving, to exhort the disobe- 
dient when they fall in our way and we have the ability 
or the opportunity, is an intransferrable duty. Even the 
church of Rome, with all her clerical pride, commands and 
authorizes lay baptism when a Priest is not convenient, A 
Christian is by profession a preaeher of truth and righteous- 
ness, both by precept and example. He may of right 
preach, baptize, and dispense the supper, as well as pray for 
all men, when circumstances demand it. This concession 
does not, however, either dispense with the necessity of 
having evangelists, bishops, and deacons; nor having them, 
does it authorize any individual to assume to do what has 
been given in charge to them. Liberty without licentious- 
ness, and government without tyranny, is the true genius of 
the Christian institution, 

XIV. While, then, the Christian system allows every man 
"as he has received a gift to minister as a good steward of 
the manifold grace of God," it makes provision for choosing 
and setting apart qualified persons for all its peculiar ser- 
vices, necessary to its own edification and comfort, as well 
as to its usefulness in the world. It provides for its own 
perpetuity and its growth in the wisest and most practical 
manner. Its whole wisdom consists in four points: — 1st. It 
establishes the necessary offices for its perpetuity and 
growth. 2d. It selects the best qualified persons for those 
offices. 3d. It consecrates or sets those persons apart to 
those offices. 4th. It commands them to give themselves 
wholly to the work, that their improvement may keep pace 
with the growth of the body, and be apparent to all. Can 
any person point out an imperfection in this plan? — ! 

XV. All its officers, whether for its services at home or 
abroad, when fully proved, are to be formally and solemnly 
set apart by the imposition of the hands of the presbytery or 
eldership of the church. The whole community chooses — 
the seniors ordain. This is the apostolic tradition. Let 
those unacquainted with the volume examine the apostolic 
law and usage,- Acts vi. 2 — 6. So the Christian system in 
its elections and ordinations began. It is immutable. There- 
fore this system obtains in all cases. The qualifications 
for any office are always founded in the nature of the office. 
They are generally detailed, but not always, because the 
work to be done is the best guide in ascertaining the qualifi- 
cations of the doer of it. 

XVI. We say the seniors or elders always ordain. Popery 

8 



86 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM, 

says, 'None but those on whom the apostolic hands have 
been laid can of right ordain.' Such an idea is not in the 
Christian system. The seniors always lay on hands, whether 
hands have been laid on them or not. This is true Protest- 
antism. Better still, it is true Bibleism. Nay, it is the 
Christian system. The Apostles laid on hands because 
seniors, and not because apostles. This is the jet of a con- 
troversy of fifteen hundred years' standing. It has been 
very generally, almost universally misstated and overlook- 
ed. Protestants are as much Papists in this, as the Papists 
are Protestants in disowning Protestantism. It is assumed 
by Romanists, and conceded by Protestants, that "holy 
hands" are official hands by a. jure Divino. They are some- 
times, but not always. But Christian elders, (for I do not 
mean mere old men,) who have long walked in the ways of 
the Lord, have holy hands, and much more power with and 
from the Lord, than ever dwelt in any pontiff or pretended 
vicar of Christ, in twelve hundred and sixty years. 

XVII, In proof that seniors lay on hands, we appeal to the 
fact, Acts vi., for the Apostles were the oldest converts in 
Jerusalem. We appeal also to the fact that the presbytery 
or eldership laid hands on Timothy, and gave him the gift 
or office of an evangelist. And are there two rules of ordi- 
nation in one system ! Paul and Barnabas, though Apostles, 
were themselves ordained by the church of Antioch by its 
presbytery. Consequently, seniors in Christ, as such, can, 
of divine warrant, lay hands on any persons, for any office 
to which the church has elected them. It must be done also 
by prayer and fasting. See Acts vi. 6.; xiii. 3.; xiv. 23. 

XVIJI. Persons may be juniors in years and seniors in 
Christ. Timothy, says Paul, "lay hands suddenly on no 
many This implies that the ordained were juniors in the 
Lord; and until they had attained some character and stand- 
ing seniors, (even Timothy himself,) were not to consent to 
their ordination. Perhaps it may be necessary to say that 
classic presbytery and the presbytery of a single church are 
very different institutions. The Apostles ordained elders (a 
presbytery) in every church. They did not make young 
men old, but set apart those that were seniors in the Lord to 
the office of overseers. They did not make juniors seniors, 
but they made elders bishops. 

XIX. The community, the church, the multitude of the 
faithful, are the fountain of official power. This power de- 
scends from the body itself — not from its servants. Servants 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 87 

made by servants are servants of servants; and such are all 
the clergy of the Man of Sin. But the body of Christ, under 
him as its head, animated and led by his spirit, is the foun- 
tain and spring of all official power and privilege. How 
much surer and purer is ecclesiastic authority thus derived 
from Christ the head, immediately through his body, than 
when derived through a long, doubtful, corrupt dynasty of 
bishops or pontiffs! The church is the mother of all the 
sons and priests of God; and to look for authority to her 
servants or creatures, as do all sorts of Papists, whether 
Catholic or Protestant, is to worship and serve the creature 
more than the Creator — a species of idolatry worthy only 
of the darkest night of the darkest day of the dark ages. 

XX. But the church needs messengers for special occa- 
sions — not only her stated deacons and ministers, but minis- 
ters extraordinary. These two are selected by the church 
or churches in a given district, and commissioned by their 
letters. They are not consecrated by imposition of hands, 
but approved by letters from the community . Are we 
asked for authority? We produce it with pleasure. 1 Cor. 
xvi. 3., is just to the point: "And," says Paul to the saints 
in Corinth, "when I some whomsoever you shall approve by 
letters, them will I send to bring your liberality to Jerusa- 
lem." This is the apostolic usage in such cases. In the 
second epistle Paul says, "We have sent with Titus the 
brother (Luke we opine) whose praise is in the gospel, 
(written by him,) throughout all the churches — who was 
aho chosen by the churches to travel with us with this boun- 
ty," &c. 

XXI. The Christian system demands for its perpetuity 
and for its prosperity at home and abroad, bishops, deacons, 
and evangelists. Its bishops teach, preside, and execute the 
laws of Christ in all its convocations. The deacons, a large 
and diverse class of functionaries, composed of stewards, 
treasurers, almoners, door-keepers, &c, as the case may 
require, wait continually upon its various services. Its evai* 
gelists possessed of proper qual ifications, ordained and con- 
secrated to the work of the Lord in converting sinners and 
planting churches, by a presbytery, or a board of seniors 
competent to the prudent discharge of this duty, are con- 
stantly engaged in multiplying its members. These minis- 
ters of the word are commanded to be wholly engrossed in 
this work, and consequently to be fully sustained by their 
brethren in it. They are held responsible to all the holy 



88 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

brethren, and to the Lord at his appearing and his kingdom^ 
for the faithful discharge of that sacred trust confided in 
them. 

XX. What an efficient institution is that over which 
Christ presides, when well understood and fully carried out 
in all its details! With its bishops and deacons at home^ 
and its evangelists abroad, wholly devoted to the faithful 
discharge of their respective trusts; men of experience, faith r 
piety, morality, full of zeal, energy, benevolence, co-opera- 
ting with all similar institutions, supported by the prayers 
and free-will offerings of all the united people, having the 
love of God in their hearts, and heaven in their eye, what 
may they not achieve of glory to God, of good to men, and 
honor to themselves! Of such an army of the faith, in full 
operation and concert, it might indeed be asked, "W T ho is 
this that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon ? 
bright as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners!" 



CHAPTER XXVI. 



THE CHRISTIAN DISCIPLINE. 

I. Members should be publicly received into all soci- 
eties. They are so in the state. It is matter of record. 
When a person is regenerated, and desires to be enrolled 
among the disciples meeting in any one place, if his con- 
fession to salvation or immersion has not been publicly 
known to all the brethren, reason says those who have been 
privy to the fact, who can attest his confession, ought to 
introduce him to the congregation, and he ought to be salu- 
ted or received as such by the brethren with whom he 
unites. This the slightest attention to propriety, the reason 
and nature of things, fully and satisfactorily demonstrate. 
Letters of recommendation are the expedient which, in apos- 
tolic times, was substituted for this formal introduction, when 
a citizen of the kingdom visited any community where he 
was unknown personally to the brethren. 

II. A person cannot be under the oversight or under the 
discipline of a congregation, unless he voluntarily associate 
with the brethren meeting in that place, and unless it be a 
matter of notoriety or of record among the brethren that he 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 89 

is one of them. There can be no formal exclusion if there 
be no formal reception. If there be no visible and formal 
union, there can be no visible and formal separation. In 
truth, there can be no discipline in any congregation, unless 
t be an organized body; and no body can be organized un- 
less it is known who are members of it. On a matter of 
such plain common sense perception we have seldom thought 
it necessary to say a word, and should not now have noticed 
it all, had we not found some societies which cannot tell 
their own members, which even hesitated about the necessi- 
ty of a formal reception of any person into them, or of hav- 
ing it on record who belonged to them, They demanded a 
positive commandment or precedent for such a reception. 
They might as pertinently have demanded a positive com- 
mandment for persons to be formally married before they 
could be recognized as husband or wife, as to ask for a posi- 
tive commandment for one of the most common dictates of 
reason though, indeed, every commandment addressed to 
the Christian congregations on relative duties and privileges, 
assumes the principle that those who belong to any society 
are known to each other to belong to it, else they could not 
even perform the first duty to one another — they could not 
know when they were assembled— they could not "tarry for 
one another." 

III. Whether there shall be a record in print, in writing, 
or on the memory of all the congregation, is a question which 
must depend on circumstances. If all the members are 
blessed with infallible memories, so as never to forget who 
are members, when they became such, when any one was 
received, when any one was rejected — I say, if every bro- 
ther and sister can so well remember these matters, as when 
the discipline of the congregation or any particular question 
respecting any case of discipline may arise, they can infalli- 
bly remember all about it; then, and in that case, it is unne- 
cessary to have any record, church book, secretary, or any 
thing written or printed. But if otherwise, there must be a 
record;. because questions involving the peace and good 
order of society may arise, and have arisen, which require 
infallible testimony, or the most satisfactory evidence on 
questions of fact; such as. Was A B ever a member of your 
community? When did he become a member of it? When 
was he excluded? When was he restored? When did he for- 
sake the assembly of the brethren? Was he a husband at 
the time of his removal? &c. 

8* 



90 THE CHE1SNIAN SYSTEM. 

IV. Two things are paramount in all cases of discipline 
when brought into the congregation — the Fact and the Law, 
The fact is always to be established by good testimony or by 
the confession of the transgressor. The thing said to have 
been done, or the fact being established, the next question is. 
What is the law in the case? The president of the congre- 
gation states the fact proved, and lays the law before the 
brethren. They are to be judges both of the fact and the 
law, and when both are clearly propounded the question is 

put. The congregation decides. This is the oracle of 

reason — of civil law in all civilized countries; and it is the 
oracle of the Saviour and his Apostles. Private offences, 
public offences, and those that are mixed, are to be decided 
according to what is written in the Book. This must be 
known j therefore, after the formation of a congregation, the 
first lessons to be learned are those which concern the rela- 
tive duties of the brethren; and discipline amongst these first 
lessons stands conspicuous. It is too late to have to learn 
the law after a case occurs. When there are no cases of 
discipline in a congregation, then is the time for the brethren 
to be taught the will of the Lawgiver, that they may be pre- 
pared to act with promptness and prudence when required. 

V. "Offences must corae/" and, if possible, they must be 
healed. To cut off an offender, is good; to cure him, is 
better; but to prevent him falling, is best of all. The Chris- 
tian spirit and system alike inculcate all vigilance in pre* 
venting; all expedition in healing offences: and all firmness 
in removing incorrigible offenders. Its disciplinary code is 
exceedingly simple, rational, and benevolent. It teaches 
us to regard all offences as acts of impiety, or acts of immo- 
rality ; sins against our brethren, or sins against God alone; 
the omission of right, or the commission of wrong. 

VI. Trespasses against our brethren are all matters of ag- 
gression upon their persons, property, or character. They 
are either private or public. We can only offend against the 
person, the property, or the character of a brother; and we 
can do this only privately or publicly. Christ's legislation 
on private and personal offences, as recorded in the 18th 
chapter of Matthew, commends itself to the approbation of 
Jew and Gentile all over the world. It is as plain and as 
excellent as his golden rule of moral feeling. 

VII. Without giving any rules to decide who is the ag- 
gressor, or the aggrieved, allowing either of the parties to 
view the matter as he pleases, he commands him that supposes 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 91 

himself to be aggrieved to go ,to the aggressor and tell him 
his fault privately. If restitution is made and reconciliation 
effected, the matter ends. If not, he takes with htm a second 
or a third person, states the facts of the case, reasons and 
remonstrates. If this also fails, then he is commanded to 
inform the church of the matter; and if the aggressor will 
not hear the church, then he is to be as a heathen man or a 
publican. 

VIII. Some, indeed, imagine a difficulty in this case; for 
after HelV there is no it in the original; and ask, *What is 
to be told to the church — the original fault, or simply that the 
aggressor will not make restitution?'* The most natural 
construction of the sentence favors the simple statement of 
the fact — that an offence had been committed and restitu- 
tion refused, without going into the details of the trespass. 
But a second difficulty has been suggested on the manner in 
which the congregation is to be informed. Is it to be told 
to the whole community in full assembly met? or to those 
appointed by the congregation to hear and adjudicate such 
matters? Certainly the congregation has ears as well as a 
tongue, and it is not all ears nor all tongue. Every well* 
organized church has its eldership, who hear all such mat- 
ters, and who bring them belore the whole assembly only 
when it is absolutely necessary, and even then at a conve- 
nient season. 

IX. The elders hear the matter; and if the case be one 
that requires a special committee, which Paul calls k4 secu- 
lar seats of judicature," 1 Cor. vi. 4., they appoint it; then, 
and not till then, if their decision of the matter be refused, 
they bring it before the whole congregation, and he is ex- 
cluded from among them, that he may be as a heathen man 
and a publican — one entitled only to civil, and not to Chris- 
tian respect — one whose company is to be eschewed rather 
than courted. 

X. The whole community can act, and ought to act, in 
receiving and in excluding persons; but in the aggregate, it 
can never become judges of offences and a tribunal of trial. 
Such an institution was never set up by divine authority. 
No community is composed only of wise and discreet full 
grown men. The Christian church engrosses old men, 
young men, and babes in Christ. Shall the voice of a babe 
be heard, or counted as a vote in a case of discipline! Wha 
is the use of bishops in a church, if all are to rule — of 
judges, if all are judges of fact and law! No wonder that 



92 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

broils and heart-burnings, and scandals of all sorts disturb 
those communities ruled by a democracy of the whole — 
where every thing is to be judged in public and full assem- 
bly. Such is not the Christian system, it ordains that 
certain persons shall judge and rule,* and that all things 
shall '*be done decently and in order." 

XI. Besides matters of private trespass between brethren, 
there are matters of public wrong, or acts of injustice 
towards the whole Christian community, and also towards 
them that are without. Drunkenness in a professor, for ex- 
ample, is a sin against God and against all the Christian 
brotherhood. It is, moreover, a public nuisance to all men, 
so far as it is witnessed or known. The transgressor in 
such a case, if he be not penitent and reform, must be con- 
victed of the offence. An attempt at convicting him of the 
offence is not to be made till he fail to acknowledge it. A 
failure to acknowledge, or an attempt to deny $ calls for con- 
viction, and precludes the idea of repentance. 

XII. In all cases of conviction the church is to be address- 
ed through its rulers. No private individual has a right to 
accuse any person before the whole community. The 
charge, in no case, is to be preferred before the whole con- 
gregation. Such a procedure is without precedent in the 
Law or in the Gospel— in any well regulated society, 
church, or state. H, then, any brother fall into any public 
offence, those privy to it notify the elders of the church, or 
those for the time being presiding over it, of the fact, and of 
the evidence on which they rely. The matter is then in the 
hands of the proper persons. They prosecute the investiga- 
tion of it; and on the denial of the accused, seek to convict 
him of the allegation. 

XIII. When a person is convicted of any offence, he is 
unworthy of the confidence of the brethren; for conviction 
supposes concealment and denial; and these, of course, are 
evidence of impenitence. We do not say that such a one 
js never again to be worthy of such confidence; but that 
until he has given satisfactory proofs of genuine repentance, 
he is to be treated as one not of the body of Christ. 

XIV. In ail cases of hopeful repentance the transgressor 
is to be restored with admonition. The acknowledgment of 
an offence, and of repentance for it, are, in all cases, to be as 
public as the sin itself. Peter's sin and repentance are as 
public as his name. So was David's. So should be those 

* I Tim. lit 5.; v. 17. Acts xx . 28-31. Heb. xili. 17, #c. #c. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 93 

of all transgressors. Those who have caused the Saviour 
and his faithful followers to blush, ought themselves to be 
made to blush before the world; and if their sorrow and 
amendment be genuine, they will do it cheerfully and fully. 
"Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also mav fear.' 5 
1 Tim. v. 29 * 

XV. On the subject of exclusion, or what is commonly 
called excommunication, which places the subject of it in the 
attitude of a pagan or publican to the whole Christian com- 
munity, all the Protestant sects seem to be of one mind. The 
Baptist Discipline, appended to the Confession of Faith 
taken from the works of Dr. John Owen, Dr t Goodwin, and 
other Congregationalists and Independents, speaks in full 
harmony with our views— 9th edition, 179S, p. 20. — "The 
manner of proceeding unto this great and awful instituted 
ordinance, is, the church being gathered together, the offend- 
er also having notice to come to make his answer and 
defence (if he comes not, be aggravates his offence by de- 
spising the authority of Christ in his church) the body of the 
church is to have knowledge of the offender's crime fully,, 
and the full proof thereof as ofplain matter of fact; and after 
mature deliberate consideration, and consulting the rules of 
direction given in the word of God, whether the offender be 
present or absent, the minister or elder puts the question to 
the whole church, whether they judge the person guilty of 
such crime now proved upon him, is worthy of the censure 
of the church for the same? To which the members in 
general give their judgment; which, if it be in the affirma- 
tive, then the judgment of the members in general being had, 
or the majority of them, the pastor, minister, or elder, sums 
up the sentence of the church, opens the nature of the crime, 
with the suitableness of the censure, according to gospel 
rule; and having thus proceeded, a proper time is fixed to 
put the sentence in execution; at which time the pastor, 
minister, or elder of the church, as his place and duty re- 
quire, is to lay open the heinousness of such a sin, with all 
the aggravating circumstances thereof, and showing what an 
abominable scandal such an offender is become to religion, 
what dishonor it is to God, &c. applying the particular 
places of scripture that are proper to the case, in order to 
charge the offence home upon the conscience of the offender, 
if present, that others also may fear; showing also the awful 

* By a reference to an Extra on Order, published 1835, the carious reader may 
find other useful hints on the subject of discipline, 



94 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

nature of this great censure, and the main end thereof, for 
the salvation and not the destruction of the soul, and with 
much solemnity in the whole society, calling upon God for 
his gracious presence, and his blessing upon this his sacred 
ordinance, that the great end thereof may be obtained. Still 
expressing the deep sense the church hath of the fall of this 
brother, with the great humiliation of the church, and great 
sorrow for, and detestation of, the sin committed. The said 
pastor,minister,orelder,in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, 
in the presence of the congregation, and by and with the 
consent, and according to the judicial sentence of the church, 
cuts off, and secludes such an offender by name, both from 
the union and communion of the church, because of his 
offences; so that such a person is not thenceforth to be 
looked on, deemed, or accounted as a brother or member of 
such a church, until God shall restore him again by repent- 
ance." 

XVI. Whether it may be always prudent in the incipient 
stages of every case of discipline to have open doors, or 
whether some cases may not require closed doors, are ques- 
tions referred to human prudence; but in the case of the 
ultimate decision of the congregation, and in that of exclu- 
sion, there can be but one opinion on the necessity and 
utility of its being done in the presence of all who may 
please to attend. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 



EXPEDIENCY, 

I. "All things lawful are not expedient, because all things 
lawful edify not.'" So Paul substantially affirmed. A posi- 
tion of licentious tendency, if not well qualified. As defined 
by its author, it is perfectly safe. He only assumed that 
there were many things which he might lawfully do, which 
were not expedient for him to do. He might, for example, 
have married a wife, eat the flesh of either Jewish or Pagan 
sacrifices, or drunk the wine of their libations, &c. &c, 
according to the Christian law; but in the circumstances of 
his peculiar vocation and localities, to have done these 
things would have been inexpedient. 



PHE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 95 

II. Law itself is, indeed, at best but an expedient — a 
means, supposed at the time of its promulgation, suitable to 
some rational end. But, owing to the mutability of things, 
laws often fail to be the best means to the ends proposed \ 
and are therefore abolished, or, for the time being, suspend- 
ed. This is true of all laws and institutions prescribing the 
modes and forms of action, whether in religion or morality. 
Moral laws, properly so called, are, indeed, immutable; 
because the principle of every moral law is love, and that 
never can cease to be not only a way and means, but the 
only way and means to rational, to human happiness. Posi- 
tive precepts, however, prescribing the forms of religious 
and moral action, emanating from God himself, have been 
changed, and may again be changed, while all the elements 
of piety and morality are immutable. It would now, for 
example, be immoral to marry a natural sister; yet it was 
for a time done by divine authority. It became inexpedient 
to continue the practice, and the law was changed. 

III. There is, therefore, a law of expediency, as well as 
the expediency of law. This law of expediency, as it is, 
indeed, the basis of the expediency of law in the divine 
government, has been, as in the case of David eating the 
loaves of the presence, and the priests profaning the Sabbath 
by the labors of the Temple, occasionally elevated above 
the precepts that prescribe the forms of religious and moral 
action. True, indeed, that such cases are exceedingly rare; 
and they are rare reasoners who can safely decide when 
any particular precept prescribing the form of action, may, 
for the sake of the action itself, be waived or suspended. It 
is, moreover, exceedingly questionable, whether, under the 
more perfect institution of Christianity, the law of expedi- 
ency can ever clash with any moral or religious precept in 
the New Covenant. 

IV. Still there are many things left to the law of expedi- 
ency, concerning which no precepts are found in the apos- 
tolic writings. To ascertain these is the object of this 
chapter. They are, then, in one sentence, those things, or 
forms of action, which it was impossible or unnecessary to 
reduce to special precepts; consequently they are not faith, 
piety, nor morality; because whatever is of the faith, of the 
worship, or of the morality of Christianity, was both possible 
and necessary to be promulged; and is expressly and fully- 
propounded in the sacred scriptures. The law of expedi- 
ency, then, has no place in determining articles of faith, acts 



96 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

of worship, nor principles of morality. All these require a 
Hhus saith the Lord" in express sentiments, and the sacred 
writings have clearly defined and decided them. But in 
mother matiers that may be called the circumstantials of the 
gospel and of the church of Christ, the people of God are 
left to their own discretion and to the facilities and exigen- 
cies of society. 

V. Many things, indeed, that are of vital importance to 
the well-being and prosperity of the kingdom of Christ, are 
left to the law of expediency . A few examples will suffice : — 
Can any one imagine any measures o* more consequence 
than the safe-keeping of the apostolic writings, the multi- 
plication of copies, the translation of them into different 
languages, and the mode of distributing them throughout 
the whole world? Now who can show a positive or special 
precept on any one of these four vital points? Scribes or 
copyists, paper-makers, printers, book-binders, and venders 
of the oracles of God, are as unknown to the apostolic 
writers as mails, post-offices, rail- roads, and steam-engines. 
So negligent, too, has the kingdom of Christ been on some 
of these points, that she has not at this hour a received copy 
of the Living Oracles. We American and English people 
have a received version by authority of a king; but we have 
not a received original by the authority of any king or 
government civil or ecclesiastic. A startling fact, truly! 
But who dares to deny it? 

VI. Next to these are meeting-houses, baptisteries, Lord's 
tables, the emblematic loaf and cup, times of convocation, 
arrangements for the day, &c. &c. Acts of Parliament, 
decrees of synods and councils, but no apostolic enactments^ 
statutes, or laws are found for any of these important items. 
There is neither precept nor precedent in the New Testa- 
ment for building, hiring, buying, or possessing a meeting- 
house; for erecting a baptismal bason, font, or bath; for 
chancel, altar, table, leavened or unleavened bread, chalice, 
cup, or tankard, and many other things of equal value. 

VII. There is no law, rule, or precedent for the manner of 
eating the Lord's supper, no hint as to the quantity of bread 
and wine to be used by each participant; nothing said about 
who shall partake first, or how it shall be conveyed from 
one to another. These are all discretionary matters, and 
left to the prudence and good sense of the Christian commu- 
nities — in other words, to the law of expediency. 

VIII. Touching these and very many other such matters 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 



97 



zni things, nothing is enacted, prescribed, or decided by 
apostolic authority; but all the things to be done are enjoin- 
ed in very clear and broad precepts, or in very striking and 
clear apostolic precedents. General laws and precepts, em- 
bracing the whole range of religious and moral action, are 
often found in the sayings of the Lord and of his ministers 
of the New Institution, from which also our duties and obli- 
gations may be clearly ascertained. That "marriage is 
honorable in alF is clearly taught; but who ever read a 
verse on the manner in which this most important of all 
social institutions is to be performed? No age is fixed at 
which the covenant shall be made or ratified — no time of 
life prescribed for its consummation — nothing said about 
who shall perform the service, the formula, the witnesses, 
the record, &,c. And, still more singular, there is no table, 
or law, or statute in all the New Covenant saying who may, 
or who may not, enter into that relation on any principle of 
consanguinity or affinity. By the consent of the Christian 
church the Jewish law obtains in this matter. 

IX. The communion of saints, of all Christian churches — 
the co-operation of churches as one holy nation, a kingdom 
of priests, as a peculiar people in all common interests and 
benefits — an efficient gospel ministry, supported justly and 
honorably by the whole community — are matters clearly 
and fully taught by both apostolic precept and authority; 
but the forms, the ways and means by which these ends 
shall be attained, are left to the law of expediency 

X. But here arises a practical and all-important question, 
viz. — Who shall ascertain and who shall interpret this law 
of expediency? We ail agree that expedients are to be 
chosen with regard to times, seasons, and other circum- 
stances. Changes in these must always change expedients. 
The mariner's compass, the art of printing, new modes of 
travelling, Banks and their commercial operations, new 
forms of government, &c. &c,, have changed the order of 
society and all human expedients. Now the law of expedi- 
ency is the law of adopting the best present means of attain- 
ing any given end. But this is a matter which the wisdom 
and good sense of individuals and communities must decide. 
This is not, this cannot be, a matter of standing revelation. 
Now if the church was always unanimous in opinion as in 
faith — if all its accumulated wisdom gave one uniform de- 
cision on all such questions, then the whole church is by 
one voice to ascertain the law of expediency on any given 

9 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM, 

paint. But this is not the case. No class of men— apostles 9 
teachers, privates, ever did agree on questions of expedien- 
cy. Paul and Barnabas dissented and differed, without any 
breach of communion, on a question of this sort. Hence arises 
•fee necessity of the spirit of concession, subordination, 
bearing, forbearing, submitting to one another. When there 
are two views or opinions on any question of expediency 
entertained by two parties, one of them must yield, or there 
are two distinct systems of operation, and ultimately two 
distinct parties. According to the law of expediency, then, 
the minors in age, experience, or numbers, must give place 
; the majors in age, experience, or numbers. But as nara- 
hers are supposed to represent the ratios of age, wisdom, and 
knowledge, it is expedient that a clearly ascertained majority 
of those whose province it is to decide any matter, shall 
interpret the law of expediency; or, in other words, the 
minority shall peaceably and cordially acquiesce in the de- 
cisions of the majority. Since the age of social compacts 
began till now, no other principle of co-operation, no other 
law of expediency can secure the interests, the union, har- 
mony, and strength of any people, but that of the few sub- 
mitting to the many. 

XL He that asks for unanimity, asks for what is not often 
attainable in a small number of persons. He asks for the 
liberty of one or two to govern or to control a whole com- 
munity — for the government of a minority, however small, 
over a majority however large. This is virtually, though 
not formally, and not often intentionally, the demand of all 
the advocates for unanimity in ascertaining or interpreting 
the law of expediency in any given case. The law of ex- 
pediency enacts that a majority of the seniors shall decide 
i all cases what is most expedient to be done in attaining 
;:? sy of the ends commanded in the Christian Institution, the 
means to which are not divinely ordained in the written 
jaws of that institution; and that the minority shall cheer- 
fully and conscientiously acquiesce in such decisions, 

XII. The lavs of love is the supreme law of religion, mo- 
rality, and expediency. No code of laws, without it, could 
make or keep any people pure, peaceable, and happy; and? 
vAth it, we only want, in most matters, but general laws. — 
This is the spirit, and soul, and body of the Christian Insti- 
tution. We cannot love by law, but we can walk in love 
with no other law but that of love. The Christian system 
contemplates love as supreme, and makes no arrangements 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM, 99 

nor provisions for keeping together a carnal, worldly, selfish, 
self-willed population. Better such a confederacy had burst 
into as many particles as persons, by the repellant princi- 
ple of selfishness, than to be hooped together rW all the laws 
of expediency from Noah to John Wesley. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 



HERESY. 

I. Schisms and heresies are matters strongly reprobated 
in the Christian Scriptures. Thai they mav be guarded 
against with due care, they nrust be contemplated and un- 
derstood in their true and proper scriptural attributes. We 
shall therefore first attempt to define them. 

II. The term schism is found but eight times in the apos- 
tolic writings. When applied to a garment, Matth. ix. 16. , 
Mark xx. 2i., it is properly translated rent; applied to a 
concourse of peoople, John vii. 43., ix., 16., x. 19, it is 
translated division; when applied to the church by Paul, 
1 Cor. i. 10., xi. 18., xii. 25., it denotes division or aliens- 
Hon — not on account of faith, doctrines, or opinions — but on 
account of men as leaders or chiefs among the brethren. So 
the connexions in which it is found always indicate. It is 
a division as respects internal union, or the union of heart 
and affection, only tending to a breach of visible or outward 
union, and therefore reprobated by the Apostle. Such are 
its New Testament acceptations. 

III. Schisms may then' exist where there is the most per- 
fect agreement in faith, in doctrine, in all religious tenets. 
Undue attachment to certain persons, to the disparagement 
of others, partial regards because of personal preferences, 
are the true elements of schism or division as it appeared in 
Corinth, and as the word is used in the New Testament. 
But few persons, now-a-days, can correctly appreciate the 
force of the word schism in the apostolic age, because but a 
very few experimentally know 7 the intimacies, the oneness 
of heart and soul, that obtained and prevailed in the Chris- 
tian profession, while all was genuine and uncorrupt. A 
anion formed on Christian principles — a union with Christ 
and with his people, in views, sentiments,, feelings, aim?, 



100 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEH. 

and pursuits— a real copartnery for eternity, almost annihi- 
lated individuality itself, and inseparably cemented into one 
spirit all the genuine members of Christ's body. Kindred 
drops do not more readily mingle into one mass, than flowed 
the souls of primitive Christians together in ail their aspirat- 
ions, loves, delights, and interests. Hence arose that jealousy 
in the Apostle Paul when first he learned that particular 
persons in Corinth began to attract to themselves notice 
and attachment for mere personal, individual, and fleshly 
considerations, as leaders or chiefs in the Christian family. 
In these indications he already saw the dissolution of the 
church. Although yet but one visible community, having 
one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one table, one ostensible 
supreme and all-controlling interest; still m these attach- 
ments to particular persons he not only saw a real division 
or breach in the hearts of the people, but foresaw that it 
would issue in positive, actual, and visible disunion or here- 
sy. And here we are led to inquire into the scriptural 
import of this word heresy. 

IV. Hairesis, strictly and literally indicative of choice or 
option, is anglicised heresy , and properly rendered sect or 
faction; and by implication discord and contention. It is 
found only nine times in the New Testament, in the Acts 
of the Apostles, v. 17., we have it rendered "the sect of the 
Sadducees;" — xv. 5., "the sect of the Pharisees :" — xxiv. 5., 
"the sect of the Nazarenes;" — xxiv. 14., "after the way 
which they call heresy, (a sect.) so worship I," says Paul ; — 
xxvi. 5., "after the most strict sect of our religion I lived a 
Pharisee;"— xxviii. 22., "as for this sect (of the Christians) 
we know that it is every where spoken against." Besides 
these six occurrences we find it twice used by Paul in his 
epistles, and once by Peter. 1 Cor. xL 10., "For there 
must be heresies (sects) among you.'' Gal. v. 20., "Seditions, 
heresies." 2 Peter ii. 1., "Shall bring in damnable here- 
sies.'" in the common version it is, then, five times render- 
ed sect, and four times heresy. 

V. As the word sect or heresy, found only in the Acts 
of the Apostles and Epistles, does always in the former 
simply mean a party, without any regard to its tenets, the 
term has nothing in it either reproachful or honorable — 
nothing virtuous or vicious. Hence it is equally applied to 
Pharisees, Sadducees,Nazarenes, or Christians, without any 
insinuation as to the character of the party. It is only once 
rendered heresy in the "Acts," and in that place it ought 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 101 

most obviously to have been sect. Paul had been accused 
by Tertullus (Acts xxiv. 6.) with the crime of being "a 
ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes." Now in vindica- 
ting himself from any censure in this case, he ought to have 
met the charge under the same title. This he did in the 
original; for in verse 5th, in the indictment, and in verse 
14th, in his defence, we have the same word hairesis. How 
"Injudicious, then, was it on the part of our translators and 
the Vulgate to make Tertullus accuse Paul of a sect, and to 
make Paul defend himself of a heresy, when both Tertullus 
and Paul used the same word in their speeches as reported 
by Luke in the original! 

VI. In the new version this word is, as it should be, uni- 
formly rendered sect. In the Epistles, and apparently once 
in the Acts, it is used as though it included an idea of cen- 
sure or guilt. Paul defends himself from the accusation of 
Tertullus. Here, then, a question arises — "Why should 
the term kairesis import blame in its Christian, and none in 
its Jewish acceptation! We answer, Because among the 
; ,T ~3 sects or parties did not terminate as among Christians, 
in separate communities or communions. They resembled 
the high and low church parties in the Episcopalian commu- 
nion; or the different and numerous sects among the 
Romanists, viz. — Benedictines, Franciscans, Dominicans., 
Jesuits, &c. which never terminate in a breach of commu- 
nion or co-operation as one church. Thus the Pharisees, 
Sadducees, Herodians, &c. frequented the same temple, 
altar, priesthood, and united in all the same acts of worship. 
Not so the Jews and Samaritans: they were real sects in the 
Christian sense. Again, among the Jews the bond of union 
was national and fleshly; and, therefore, parties could not 
destroy it. With us it is spiritual, social, cordial— one fai 
one hope, one spirit; and parties of this are destructive in 
the superlative degree. 

I To this view there is but one plausible objection.; 
•^and that we meet in the answer to the question, 'Why did 
I defend himself from the accusation of Tertullus as 
indicating censure, if sects among the Jews were such harmless 
andincffensive things P We answer. There is no blame in 
simple imputation of a sect, but in the ideas which Teriv 
connected with it, The Romans had agreed to pre-:: 
Jews in the enjoyment of their religion, and they wished in 
the presence of Felix to make Paul appear an apostate fi 
that religion — "a pestilent fellow, a mover of seditio: 

S* 



102 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes" — that he might be 
from under the protection granted to the Jews* religion. 
From this view only can we see the wisdom of Paul's de- 
tenee. He admits the charge of being a sectary, but in no 
criminal sense — worshipping the same God with them, be- 
lieving also every word in their law and Prophets, and 
cherishing the same hope of a future life in the resurrection 
of the dead; and thus evinces that nothing offensive or cri- 
minal could be imputed to him on account of his being a 
ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes. 

VIII. In the Christian epistles it is, however, used in a 
bad sense, and is always connected with censure. This 
may have been the reason why King James 1 version 
changes the translation into heresies, or as in the case of 
haptis-m, bishop. &c, anglicises, rather than translates the 
word. It is not, however, a good or a sufficient reason, be- 
cause it necessarily imposes upon the English reader that 
heresy in the epistles, and sect in the Acts of the Apostles, 
are two distinct and different things; and this, of course, not 
only obscures those passages, but also prevents the clear 
intelligence of a matter essential to our duty and our happi- 
ness. The acceptation, however, h not materially different 
in the epistles, except in the relation of things. When the 
word sect is connected with a proper name, such as the 
sect of the Pharisees, the sect of the Sadducees, or the sect of 
the Christians, it is used in a middle sense, neither as intim- 
ating truth or error, good or evil; but if it be applied to a 
party formed in a community which admits of no division 
cr subdivision in its nature, because necessarily tending to 
its corruption and destruction; then, in that relation and 
sense, a sect is a destructive and condemns ble thing. Now 
in the Epistles it is always taken in this sense, and is ranked 
with factions 9 as a work of the flesh, carnal, and destructive, 
and doomed to the judgments of Heaven. 

IX. Still, in its scriptural application, whether used by 
Luke,Paul, or Peter, and it is found in no other writer, it never 
relates to doctrine, tenet, opinion, or faith. There is not, 
in sacred usage, any tenet, or doctrine which is called heresy 
Oi sect. Hence that ecclesiastic definition, viz.— "Heresy 
denotes some erroneous opinion, tenet, or doctrine obstinately 
persisted ira," is without any countenance from the New 
Testament Heresy and heretical, in the lips of Paul and 
Peter, and in the lips of an ancient or modern schoolman, or 
churchman, are two very different things. 



THE CHRI3TIAN SYSTEM. 103 

X. But some allege that any doctrine that makes division 
is heretical, and therefore condemnable. It may be admit- 
ted, for the sake of argument, that any doctrine or action 
that makes division is heretical or divisive; but on this ac- 
count it is not condemnable; because in that sense Jesus 
Christ was a heretic and his gospel heresy: for he came to 
make divisions on earth, and did make a sect; and of course, 
his doctrine is divisive or heretical. 

XI. Now if we say Jesus was a heretic, snd his gospel 
heresy i and his followers sectaries, does not this divest the 
word of any bad or culpable significance, and make both 
heretics, heresies, and sects innocent things! it does, so 
far as ail without Christ's kingdom or institution are con- 
cerned. But this is the all-important difference in this place; 
Christians, contradistinguished from Jews, Mussulman, Pa« 
gans, Infidels, are lawfully, righteously, and innocently a 
sect, a heresy: but a sect among these is corrupt, treasona- 
ble, and most reprehensible, according to every precept, 
doctrine, and saying of the New Institution. Thus a man 
may be a Christian, or of the sect of the Nazarenes, but not 
a Lutheran, a Calvinist, an Arminian, without blame. 

XII. The words schism and heresy so far explained, may 
we not regard schism as the cause, and heresy as the 
effect? or, in other words, must we not regard sects as the 
effects of schisms? The philosophy of the whole matter, 
then, is, that separation is the effect of alienation of heart, 
alienation the fruit of rival attachments, which in the church 
generally begin in personal sympathies or personal antipa- 
thies, and end in detaching the subjects of them from the 
body of Christ In this view of the matter Paul seems to 
reason, 1 Cor. xi. 18, 19. — "There are schisms among you — - 
for there must be sects among you, that the approved may 
be made manifest." The schisms in Corinth began m par- 
ticular predilections for great teachers; such as Paul, Apol- 
los, Cephas. These preferences violated th&t unity of spirit^ 
that oneness of heart essential to one body in Christ; and 
that led to parties in the church, displayed in the manner 
they celebrated the supper. This same spirit in other com- 
munities ultimately led to visible separations and distinct 
sects, as among the professed members of Christ's body at 
the present day. 

XIII. Paul, in commenting on this most ancient schism, 
farther observes, that there must, of necessity, be sects in 
such a state of things, that "the approved may be made 



104 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

manifest." So true it is that all strifes, contentions, parties, 
and sects grow out of corruption. Sects are the egress of 
corruptions. The approved hold to Christ, and thus become 
manifest; the disapproved follow human leaders, and are 
also made manifest. There appears no other cure for a 
corrupt and mixed community than heresies or sect 5 ?. It is 
as wise and benevolent a provision in a remedial system, 
that incurable corruption should work out in this way, as 
that law in the animal kingdom which forces to the surface 
all unfriendly humors, and congregates into swellings and 
biles those vicious particles which would otherwise vitiate 
the whole system, and fatally terminate in the ruin of the 
bod v. 

XIV. Men, indeed, do not fall in love with Paul, Peter, 
and Cephas, in the partizan sense, till they have lost some 
of their love for Christ. Hence the first indication of per- 
sonal regards, or of sectarian attachment, is the first proof 
of declension, backsliding, or apostacy. The partizan at- 
tachment is of the essence of the first sin, and carries deep- 
ly concealed in its core the first element of hatred. Thus 
we observe that he that loves Wesley for any sectarian attri- 
bute, hates Calvin just in the ratio of his attachment to his 
leader; as he who loves Calvin for his humanisms hates 
Wesley for opposing them. While he that loves only what 
is Christian in the two, in no sense hates either; but grieves 
for the errors and delinquencies of both. If for no other 
reason, we ought most devoutly and ardently to eschew par- 
ty ism; for this it ought to be abjured, viz.— that our hatred 
of one party will always be in the ratio of our love for its 
antagonist; and in all such cases both our love and our 
hatred are obnoxious to the reprobation of God, and lie, 
indeed, under the doom of his express condemnation. 

XV. On this account we presume it is that the next place 
we find this word hairesis, and the only time it is again 
found in Paul's epistles, it stands immediately after "fac~ 
iiaris" and before "envyings and murders" in Paul's enume- 
ration and classification of the works of the flesh, Gal. 
v. 20., the perpetrators of which, Paul strongly and re- 
peatedly affirmed, shall not "enter the kingdom of God." 
He says, "The works of the flesh are manifest, which are 
these — -"fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, sorcery, 
enmities, strifes, emulations, wraths, brawlings, factions, 
sects , envyings, murders, intoxication," &c. &c. Every 
sectary is, then, Paul being in the chair of judgment, a fleshly 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 103 

man, and without the precincts of the kingdom of God. A 
severe judgment, truly! How shall we understand it? — ! 

XVI. It is now still more evident that heresies are noi 
mere opinions, tenets, doctrines, or theories; for who will 
affirm that opinions, tenets, or theories, as such, are works 
uf the flesh? Or who will say that fleshly principles are the 
roots or reasons of mere opinions, tenets, or theories, &c? 
Corrupt opinions, indeed, maybe more naturally propagated 
or received by corrupt men; but to make opinions or tenets, 
even those sectarian opinions on which some parties are 
founded, works of the flesh, is to confound mental imbecility 
or & defective education, with depravity of the heart: for 
nothing can be called a work of the flesh that partakes not 
of the corruptions of the heart. Hairesis in this place, then, 
means sects, as it always does in the New Testament. 

XVII. Still the question recurs, Are all religious sects 
works of the flesh? Paul makes no exceptions. We dare 
not. He speaks not of philosophic, political, or foreign 
factions and sects; but of those appertaining to the Christian 
institution. Among the Jews Paul himself was a Pharisee; 
among the political castes he was a Roman; but in religion 
he was a Christian ; not a Calvinist, Arminian, or Methodist; 
but a Christian. Indeed, Paul himself, in his history of 
sectaries, or of the founders and makers of religious parties, 
traces all their zeal and effort to the stomach, rather than 
to the conscience, or the love of truth. "Mark them," says 
he, "who cause divisions and offences contrary to the doc- 
trine which you have received, and avoid them; for such 
persons do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own 
belly; and by flattery and fair speeches deceive the hearts 
of the simple.'" Surely such sectaries and sects are "the 
works of the flesh." 

XVIII. But here we ought to define a factionist and a 
sectary, since now -a-days we have some sectarians that are 
not faetionists, and some factionists and factions that are 
more than mere sectaries. The factionist, or as Paul calls 
him, the "heretic," makes the faction. The faction are 
those who take part with him. While the ordinary sectaries 
are those who are simply led by the heretic, beguiled by his 
flatteries and fair speeches, without any sinister motive im- 
pelling their course. There are many sectarians who, in 
the simplicity of their hearts, imagine their party to be the 
true and only church of Christ, and therefore conscientious- 
ly adhere to it. There are others who think that no party 
is the church of Christ, but that he has a church in all 



106 THE CHRISTIAN StSTEM, 

parties — en invisible church — to which they think them* 
selves to belong, and therefore fraternize with all of a similar 
stamp in all parties so far as known to them. These differ 
much from the schismatics, heretics, and factionists of Paul. 
These either made, or labored to keep up, a party or a sect; 
and all such persons are corrupt fleshly men; because, from 
pride of their own opinion, from emulation, ambition, or the 
love of money, they are prompted to create or to keep up a 
faction or sect favorable to their views and interests. These 
serve their own appetites and mind earthly things. But a 
great mass of sectaries are following, as they imagine, Jesus 
Christ and his Apostles, under the name and tenets of Luther, 
Calvin, Wesley, &c. They are, without knowing it, the 
mere followers of men: lor they examine nothing for them- 
selves by a constant and habitual reference to the Bible. 

XIX. Now what may be the amount of carnality and 
fleshly or worldly influence that keeps them there, and what 
may be the amount of long-suffering and forgiveness exer- 
cised towards them from heaven, 1 presume not to dogma- 
tize; but that the factionist — the person who makes a party, 
and he who labors to keep it up, are certainly earthly, 
sensual, and demoniacal; and, as such, not of the kingdom 
of God, we cannot but assert as a conviction deep and ra- 
tional, derived from the most impartial examination of the 
sacred scriptures — from the clearest and most ample testi- 
mony of the Holy Spirit, speaking to us in the words of 
Prophets and Apostles. 

X£. The Christian party are "built on the foundation of 
the Apostles and Prophets, and on Jesus the Messiah, him- 
self the chief corner stone," and therefore on the Christian 
Scriptures alone; not, indeed, as contradistinguished from 
the Jewish, but as the development and full revelation of all 
that concerns Christ and his kingdom contained in those ' 
scriptures. Now all other parties that are in any way di- 
verse from the Christian party are built upon some alloy- 
some creed, formula, or human institution supplementary to 
the apostolic laws and customs. This alloy is what makes 
the party. So many items of the Apostles' doctrine and so 
many notions of Calvin combined produce the compound 
called Calvinism. So many items of Luther's opinions, 
compounded with the Apostles' teaching, make Lutheranism, 
And so many portions of Wesley's speculations, compound- 
ed with certain portions of the New Testament, make the 
compound called Methodism. The Christian ingredients in 
these compounds, so far as they are not neutralized by the 



the chbistia:? system. 107 

human alloy, make the Christians among them; while the 
alloy makes the sectary. Take away all that belongs to 
the founder of the sect in all these parties, and they would 
certainly coalesce and form one community. 

XXI. Now we do not suppose that there is the same guilt 
in forming a new Protestant party that there was in first of 
all forming the Roman Catholic, the Greek, or any of the 
ancient sects. The modern sects have been got up with the 
desire of getting back to primitive Christianity; the ancient 
sects arose directly from the lust of power — from fieshly 9 
selfish, and worldly motives. Now, however, since we have 
so largely eaten of the gall and wormwood, of the bitter fruits 
of sects and parties; and have learned the cause, the cure? 
and the preventive of sectarianism, alas for all that are 
found keeping up the old landmarks of strife, or laying the 
foundation for new rivalries, partialities, aud antipathies, to 
arise and pollute many, to retard the progress of the gospel 
abroad, and to foster the spirit of infidelity at home. 

XXII. There remains another occurrence of hairesis 
(sect) in the writings of Peter, not yet formally examined. 
We shall now specially consider it. This Apostle says, 
"There shall be false teachers among you, who will private- 
ly introduce destructive sects, denying even the Lord that 
brought them, bringing on themselves swift destruction^ 
and marly will follow their bad practices." Paul, in his 
valedictory to the Ephesians, also speaks of "grievous 
wolves devouring the flock, and of men rising out of their 
awn society to draw away disciples after them, speaking 
perverse things." From these intimations we learn that 
the Apostles Paul and Peter foresaw the rise of sectaries 
and sects ; and both of them, it is worthy of remark, dis- 
tinctly connected the sects with sectarian teachers: for all 
sects have been originated by false teachers or by corrupt 
men. Sectaries, it would appear, occupy the same place 
under Christ that false Prophets filled under Moses. Need 
we, then, infer the danger of keeping up religious sects, or 
go on to prove that every one who builds up a party is a 
partaker of the crime with him who set it up? 

XXIII. It behooves all men, then, who wish to be approv- 
ed by the Lord at his coming, to be up and doing to purge 
and cleanse the Christian profession from every root and 
branch of sectarianism, and to endeavor to destroy those de- 
structive sects that have been a sort of Pandora's box to the 
human race; that have filled the profession with hypocrites, 
the world with infidels, and retarded for so many centuries 



IOS THE CHEI3T1AN SYSTEM. 

the conversion of both Jews and Gentiles to the Christian 
faith. 

XXIV. Finally, while endeavoring to abolish the old 
setfts, let us be cautious that we form not a new one. This 
may be done by either adding to, or subtracting from, the 
apostolic constitution a single item. Our platform must be 
as long and as broad as the New Testament. Every person 
that the Apostles would receive, if present, we must receive; 
and therefore the one faith, one Lord, one baptism, one hope, 
one body, one Spirit, one God and Father of all, must be 
made the reason of one, and only one table. 

XXV. Factionists, or opinionists, or those who seek to 
attach men to themselves, because of their opinions or 
talents, or personal accidents, whatever they may be, are to 
be regarded as the very roots of bitterness in the Christian 
church — as seeking their own interests, honors, and profits, 
and not the things of Jesus Christ. By such spirits as these 
the ancient schisms and sects began ; and by kindred spirits, 
of which every generation can furnish its proper ratios, they 
are kept alive. All such persons have not the power of 
effecting much; but now and then one arises and succeeds 
in drawing away disciples after him. We can suggest no 
better remedies or preventives than those commanded by 
the Apostles. Let us hold fast their traditions; contend 
only for the faith; allow differences of opiuion; suffer no 
dogmatists ; countenance none of the disciples of Diotrephes ; 
and walk in love, guided by that wisdom which is "first 
pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be persuaded, full of 
mercy and of good fruits, without partiality and without 
hypocrisy." 

XXVI. From the preceding inductions it will appear, we 
presume, very evident to all, that we need neither telescopes 
nor microscopes to detect heresies in the New Testament 
sense of that word. They are neither more nor less than 
sects — plain palpable sects and parties. Every party in 
Christendom, without respect to any of its tenets, opinions, 
or practices, is a heresy, a schism — unless there be such a 
party as stands exactly upon the Apostles' ground. Then, 
in that case, it is asect Justin the sense of the old sect of the 
Nazarenes, afterwards called Christians, and all others are 
guilty before the Lord, and must be condemned for their 
apposition to Christ's own party; whose party w T e are, pro- 
vided we hold fast all, and only all the apostolic traditions, 
smd build upon the Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing but 
the Bible. 



Foundation of Christian Union* 



*1 pray for those who shall believe on me through 

their teaching, that all may be one; that as thou, Father, 
art in me, and I in thee, they also may be one in us, that 
the world may believe that thou hast sent me, and that thou 
gavest me the glory, which I have given them, that they 
may be one, as we are one; I in them, and thou in me, that 
their union may be perfected: and that the world may know 
that thou hast sent me, and that thou lovest them, as thou 
lovest me.' Thus Messiah prayed ; and well might he pray 
thus, seeing he was wise enough to teach that, 'If a king- 
dom be torn by factions, that kingdom cannot subsist. And 
if a family be torn by factions, that family cannot subsist. 
By civil dissensions, any kingdom may be desolated; and 
no city or family, where such dissensions are, can subsist.' 

If this be true — and true it is; if Jesus be the Messiah — 
in what moral desolation is the kingdom of Jesus Christ! — 
Was there at any time, or is there now, in all the earth, a 
kingdom more convulsed by internal broils and dissensions, 
than what is commonly called the church of Jesus Christ! 
Should any one think it lawful to paganize both the Greek 
and Latin churches— to eject one hundred millions of mem- 
bers of the Greek and Roman communions, from the visi- 
ble and invisible precincts of the Christian family or king- 
dom of Jesus Christ; and regard the Protestant faith and 
people, as the only true faith and the only true citizens of 
the kingdom of Jesus; — what then shall we say of them, 
contemplated as the visible kingdom, over which Jesus 
presides as Prophet, Priest, and King! Of forty millions 
of Protestants, shall we constitute the visible kingdom of 
the Prince of Peace? Be it so, for the sake of argument; 
and what then? The Christian army is forty millions 
strong. But how do they muster t Under forty ensigns? — 
Under forty antagonist leaders? Would to God there were 
but forty ! In the Geneva detachment alone, there is almost 
that number of petty chiefs. My soul sickens at the details! 

Take the English branch of the Protestant faith,— I 
10 



I 10 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

mean England and the United States and all the islands 
where the English Bible is read; and how many broils, dis- 
sensions, and anathemas, may we compute? I will not at- 
tempt to name the antagonizing creeds, feuds, and parties, 
that are in eternal war, under the banners of the Prince of 
Peace. And yet they talk oflove and charity, and of the 
conversion of the Jews, the Turks, and Pagans!!! 

Shall we turn from the picture, lay down our pen, and 
languish in despair? No! For Jesus has said, 'Happy 
the peace-maker '5, for they shall be called Sons of God? 
But who can make peace, when all the elements are at war? 
Who so enthusiastic, as to fancy that he can stem the tor- 
rent of strife, or quench the violence of sectarian fire! But 
the page of universal history whispers in our ears, If you 
tarry till all the belligerent armies lay down their arms, and 
make one spontaneous and simultaneous effort to unite; 
you will be as very a simpleton, as he that sat by the Eu- 
phrates, waiting till all its waters run into the sea. 

We are so sanguine— perhaps many will say, so vision- 
ary, as to imagine that a neucleus has been formed, or may 
be formed; around which may one day congregate all the 
children of God. No one, at all events, can say that it is 
either impious or immoral,-— that it is inhuman or unchris- 
tian, to think about the present state of Christ's kingdom; 
or to meditate upon the possibility or practicability of any 
scheme of gathering together the children of God, under 
the ensign of the Cross alone. No one can say that such 
an enterprize is absolutely chimerical, unless he affirms the 
negative of the Messiah's proposition, and declares that the 
present wars and strifes must extend and multiply through 
all time, and that God will convert the whole world, without 
answering the prayer of his Son; or rather, on a plan ad- 
verse to that promulgated by him, and in despite of all the 
moral desolations which have ensued upon all the broils and 
battles of five hundred sects, and fifteen hundred years! 

Dare any one say, or even think it unphiianthropic or 
malevolent, to make an effort to rally the broken phalanxes 
of Zion's King, and to attempt to induce them to turn their 
arms from one another, against the common foe? With such 
a one, it were worse than hopeless to reason, or to exchange 
a single argument. Shall we not rather esteem it to be the 
most honorable, acceptable, and praiseworthy enterprize, 
that can be dared or undertaken by mortal man on this 
earthly stage of action? And as God has ever effected 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM, 111 

the most splendid revolutions by the most humble agents, 
and by means the most unlikely in the wisdom of all hu- 
man schools; we think it not amiss or incongruous to make 
an effort, and to put our hands to the work of peace and 
love. 

From Messiah's intercession above quoted, it is incontro- 
vertible that union is strength, and disunion, weakness; 
that there is a plan founded in infinite wisdom and love, by 
which, and by which alone, the world may both believe and 
know, that God has sent his Son to be the Saviour of the 
world. And like all the schemes of Heaven, it is simple 
to admiration. No mortal need fancy that he shall have 
the honor of devising either the plan of uniting Christians 
in one holy band of zealous co-operation, or of converting 
Jews and Gentiles to the faith, that Jesus is that seed, in 
whom all the families of the earth are yet to be blessed. 
The plan is divine. It is ordained by God; and better still, 
it is already revealed. Is any one impatient to hear it? 
Let him again read the intercessions of the Lord Messiah, 
which we have chosen for our motto. Let him then ex- 
amine the two following propositions, and say whether these 
do not express Heaven's own scheme of augmenting and 
conservating the body of Chirst. 

First. Nothing is essential to the conversion of the world, 
but the union and co operation of Christians. 

Second. Nothing is essential to the union of Christians, 
but the Apostles^ teaching or testimony. 

Or does he choose to express the plan of the Self-Existent 
in other words? then he may change the order and say, 

First. The testimony of the Apostles, is the only and all- 
sujjicint means of uniting all Christians. 

Second* The union vf Christians with the Apostles'* tes- 
timony, is all-sufficient , and alone sufficient, to the conversion 
of the world. 

Neither truth alone, nor union alone, is sufficient to sub- 
due the unbelieving nations; but truth and union combined, 
are omnipotent. They are omnipotent, for God is in them 
and with them, and has consecrated and blessed them for 
this very purpose. 

These two propositions have been stated, illustrated, de- 
veloped, — and shall I say proved, in the Christian Baptist, 
and Millennial Harbinger, to the conviction of thousands. 
Indeed, one of them is as universally conceded, as it has 
been proposed, viz: That the union of Christians is essential 



112 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

to the conversion of the world; and though, perhaps* some 
might be found who would question, whether, if all Chris- 
tians were united, the whole world could be converted to 
God; there is no person, of whom we have heard, who ad- 
mits a general or universal prevalence of the gospel in 

what is usually called the millennial age of the world — and 
who admits that moral means will have any thing to do 
with its introduction, who does not also admit that the 
union of Christians is essential to that state of things. In- 
deed, to suppose that all Christians will form one commu- 
nion in that happy age of the world, and not before it, is to 
suppose a moral effect without a cause. 

The second proposition, viz. — That the word or testimony 
of the Apostles is itself all- sufficient, and alone sufficient, 
to the union of all Christians, cannot be rationally doubted 
by any person acquainted with that testimony, or who ad- 
mits the competency of their inspiration to make them in- 
fallible teachers of the Christian institution. And, indeed, 
all who contend for those human institutions called creeds, 
contend for them as necessary only to the existence of a 
party, or while the present schisms, contentions, and dis- 
sensions exist. Therefore, all the defences of creeds, an- 
cient and modern, while they assert that the Bible alone is 
the only perfect and infallible rule of faith and morals; not 
only concede that these symbols called creeds, are imper- 
fect and fallible,— but, also, that these creeds never can 
achieve what the Bible, without them, can accomplish. 

But how to do without them, appears to be an insuperable 
difficulty to many w r ell disposed Christians. To labor this 
point would be foreign to our present purpose; especially 
as it has already been fully discussed in the present contro- 
versy.* 

It is, perhaps, altogether sufficient at present to propose 
the question, How has, what is called the church, done 
with them? Have they not been the fruitful cause or oc- 
casion of all the discords, schisms, and parties, now exist- 
ing in Christendom? And will not a very superficial ob- 
servation, and a little experience, convince every man that 
the rivers tend not more certainly to the sea, than creeds 
and human devices in religion, tend to discords and divi- 
sions. Take, for example, two of the most popular creeds 
of the present day — the Westminster, and that of the Me- 



vol 



* Christian Baptist, vol. 2, pp. 66, 67. Essays on the Westminster creed, 
2. Review of Dr. Noel's Circular, vol. 5. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 113 

thodists — with whose history American society is bet- 
ter acquainted than with that of any other, and test the 
tree by its fruits, — judge their tendency by their practical 
effects upon society. To say nothing of the lesser schisms 
in the party, that once formed one communion on the plat- 
form of the Westminster creed, we can now enumerate no 
less than nine separate communions — all professing the 
Westminster articles, in substance or in form. These are 
the General Assembly in Scotland and the United States, 
the Cameronians or Solemn League and Covenant Presby- 
terians, the Burghers or Unionists, the Anti-Burghers or 
Seceders, the Relief Presbyterians, the Cumberland Pres- 
byterians, and the New School, now upon the eve of being 
born. To these might be added those called English Pres- 
byterians, who are now more generally known by the name 
of Independents and Congregationalists; and, indeed, the 
Glassites or Sandemanians, who came out of the synod of 
Angus and Mearns in the year 1728. Thus in one hun- 
dred and ninety years, have nine or ten distinct commu- 
nions originated out of the Westminster creed. Some o* 
them, too, as discordant and aloof from each other, as were 
the Jews and Samaritans. 

Nor have the Methodists in England, Canada, and the 
United States done much better for their age. They now 
form five or six separate communions, under different 
names. To say nothing of the Whitfieldite Methodists, 
those of John Wesley, are, the Wesleyan Methodists, the 
New Connexion of Methodists, the Methodist Episcopal 
church, the O'Keliy Methodists, the Radicals, &c. 

And what shall I say of the twelve or fourteen sects of 
Baptists — many of whom have as much affection for the 
Greek and Roman church, as for one another! It were use- 
less to furnish other evidence in proof that human opinions, 
inferential reasonings, and deductions from the Bible, ex- 
hibited in the form of creeds, can never unite Christians; 
as all their fruits are alienation, repulsion, bickering, and 
schism. No human creed in Protestant Christendom can be 
found, that has not made a division for every generation of 
its existence. And I may add — the more thinking, inquisi- 
tive, and intelligent the community which owns a creed, 
the more frequent their debates and schisms. 

But the Bible will do no better, if men approach it with 
a set of opinions, or a human symbol in their minds. For 
then it is not the Bible, but the opinions in the mind, that 

10* 



114 TH3 CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

form the bond of union. Men, indeed, had better have a 
written than an unwritten standard of orthodoxy, if they 
will not abandon speculation and abstract notions, as any 
part of Christian faith or duty. 

But ail these modes of faith and worship are based upon 
a mistake of the true character of Revelation, which it has 
long been our effort to correct. With us. Revelation has 
nothing to do with opinions, or abstract reasonings; for it 
is founded wholly and entirely upon facte. There is not 
one abstract opinion, not one speculative view, asserted or 
communicated in Old Testament or New. Moses begins 
with asserting facts that had transpired in creation and 
providence; and John ends with asserting prophetic or pros- 
pective facts, in the future displays of providence and re- 
demption. Facts, then, are the alpha and the omega of 
both Jewish and Christian revelations. 

But that the reader may have before his mind in one 
summary view, the whole scheme of union and co-opera- 
tion, which the Living Oracles and the present state of the 
Christian religion in the world demand; which has been, at 
different times and in various manners, illustrated and sus- 
tained in the present controversy, against divisions, — we 
shall here submit it in one period. 

Let the bible be substituted for all human creeds; 
facts, for definitions, things, for words; faith, for 
speculation: unity of faith, for unity of opinion; the 
positive commandments of god, for human legislation 
and tradition; piety, for ceremony; morality, for par- 
tizan zeal; the practice of religion, for the mere profes- 
sion of it;— -and the work is done. 

For the illustration of the leading terms, and their cor- 
relates found in this project, and for a full development of 
our meaning, (as we may not be understood, if interpreted 
by the polemic vocabulary of this age,) — we shall introduce 
some extracts from the Christian Baptist and Millennial 
Harbinger, developing our meaning, and containing some 
of the capital positions which have been fully elicited and 
canvassed, in a controversy of twelve years. 

FACT. 

Fact means something done. The term deed, so common 

m the reign of James the First, is equivalent to our term 

fact. Truth and, fact, though often confounded, are not 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 115 

the same. All facts are truths, but all truths are not facts. 
That God exists, is a truth, but not a fact; that he created 
the heavens and the earth, is a fact and a truth. That 
Paul was the Apostle of the Gentiles, is a truth, but not a 
fact; and that he preached Christ to the Gentiles, is both 
a fact and a truth. The simple agreement of the terms 
of any proposition with the subject of that proposition, or 
the representation of any thing as it exists, is a truth. But 
something must be done, acted, or effected, before we have 
a fact. There are many things in religion, morals, politics, 
and general science, which are not facts; but these are 
all but the correspondence of words and ideas with the 
things of which they treat. 

Facts have a power which logical truth has not; and 
therefore, we say, that facts are stubborn things. They 
are things, not words. The power of any fact, is the 
meaning; and therefore the measure of its power is the 
magnitude of its import. All moral facts have a moral 
meaning; and those are properly called moral facts, which 
either exhibit, develope, or form moral character. All 
those facts, or works of God, which are purely physical, 
exhibit what have been commonly called his natural or 
physical perfections; and all these facts or works of God r 
which are purely moral, exhibit his moral character. It so 
happens, however, that all his works, when properly under- 
stood, exhibit both his physical and moral character, when 
viewed in ail their proper relations. Thus the deluge ex- 
hibited his power, his justice, and his truth; and therefore, 
displayed both his physical and moral grandeur. The turn- 
ing of water into wine, apart from its design, is purely 
a demonstration of physical power; but when its design 
is apprehended, it has a moral force equal to its physical 
majesty. 

The work of redemption is a system of works, or deeds, 
on the part of Heaven, which constitute the most splendid 
series of moral facts which man or angel ever saw. And 
they are the proof, the argument, or the demonstration, of that 
regenerating proposition which presents God and love as 
two names for one idea. 

When these facts are understood, or brought into imme- 
diate contact with the mind of man, as a moral seal or ar- 
chetype, they delineate the image of God upon the human 
soul. All the means of grace are, therefore, only the means 
of impressing this seal upon the heart; of bringing these 



116 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

moral facts to make their full impression on the soul of man. 
Testimony and faith are but the channel through which 
these facts, or the hand of God, draws the image on the 
heart and character of man. If then the fact and the tes- 
timony are both the gift of God, we may well say that faith 
and eternal life are also the gift of God, through Jesus Christ 
our Lord. 

To enumerate the gospel facts, would be to narrate all 
that is recorded of the sayings and doings of Jesus Christ, 
from his birth to his coronation in the heavens. They are, 
however, concentrated in a few prominent ones, which 
group together all the love of God in the gift of his Son. He 
died for our sins, He was buried in the grave, He rose from 
the dead for our justification, and is ascended to the skies 
to prepare manskms for his disciples, comprehend the 
whole, or are the heads to the chapters which narrate the 
love of God, and display his moral majesty and glory to our 
view. 

These moral facts unfold all the moral grandeur of Je- 
hovah, and make Jesus the effulgence of his glory, the ex- 
press image of his substance. These are the moral seal 
which testimony conveys to the understanding, and faith 
brings to the hearts of sinners, by which God creates them 
anew, and forms them for his glory, it is the Spirit which 
bears witness — the Spirit of God and of Christ which gives 
the testimony, and confirms it in the disciples. But let us 
next proceed to testimony, 

TESTIMONY. 

The Romans, from whom we have borrowed much of our 
language, called the witness the testis. The declaration of 
this testis is still called testimony. In reference to the ma- 
terial system around us, to all objects and matters of sense, 
the eye, the ear, the smell, the taste, the feeling, are the 
five witnesses. What we call the evidence of sense, is, 
therefore, the testimony of these witnesses, which consti- 
tute the five avenues to the human mind from the kingdom 
of nature. They are figuratively called witnesses, and 
their evidence, testimony. But the report or declaration of 
intelligent beings, such as God, angels, and men, constitute 
what is properly and literally called testimony. 

As light reflected from any material object upon the eye, 
brings that object into contact with the eye, or enables the 



THB CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 117 

object to make its image on the eye, so testimony concern- 
ing any fact, brings that fact into contact with the mind, 
and enables it to impress itself, or to form its image upon 
the intellect, or mind of man. Now, be it observed, that 
as by our five external senses we acquire all information of 
the objects of sense around us, so by testimony, human or 
divine, we receive all our information upon all facts which 
are not the objects of the immediate exercise of our five 
senses upon the things around us. 

To appreciate the full value of testimony in the divine 
work of regeneration, we have only to reflect, that all the 
moral facts which can form moral character, after the di- 
vine model, or which can effect a moral or religious change 
in man, are found in the testimony of God: and that no fact 
can operate at all, where it is not present; or where it is not 
known. The love of God in the death of the Messiah, never 
drew a tear of gratitude or joy from any eye, or excited a 
grateful emotion in any heart among the nations of our 
race to whom the testimony never came. No fact in the 
history of six thousand years, no work of God in creation, 
providence, or redemption, has ever influenced the heart of 
man or woman, to whom it has not been testified. Testimo- 
ny is, then, in regeneration, as necessary as the facts of which 
it speaks. 

The real value of any thing, is the labor which it cost, 
and its utility when acquired. If reason and justice arbi- 
trated all questions upon the value of property, the decision 
would be, that every article is worth the amount of human 
labor which is necessary to obtain it; and when obtained, it 
is again to be tried in the scales of utility. Now, as all the 
facts, and all the truth, which can renovate human nature, 
are in the testimony of God; and as that testimony cost the 
labor and the lives of the wisest and best that ever lived, 
that testimony, to us, is just as valuable as the facts which 
it records, and the labors and the lives which it cost, and 
just as indispensable in the process of regeneration, as were 
the labors and the lives of Prophets, Apostles, and the Son 
of God. 

History, or narrative, whether oral or written, is only 
another name for testimony. When, then, we reflect how 
large a portion of both Testaments is occupied in history, 
we may judge of how much importance it is in the judg- 
ment of God. Prophecy, also, being the history of future 
facts, or a record of things to be done, belongs to the same 



liS THE CHHISTIAN SYSTEM. 

chapter of facts and record. Now if all past facts, and all 
future facts, or all the history or testimony concerning 
them, was erased from the volumes of God's inspiration, 
how small would the remainder he! These considerations, 
added together, only in part exhibit the value and utility of 
testimony in the regeneration of mankind. But its value 
will be still more evident, when the proper import of the 
term faith is fully set before us. 

FAITH. 

No testimony, no faith: for faith is only the belief of 
testimony, or confidence in testimony as true. To believe 
without testimony, is just as impossible as to see without 
light. The measure, quality, and power of faith, are al- 
ways found in the testimony believed. 

Where testimony begins, faith begins; and where tes- 
mony ends, faith ends. We believe Moses just as far as 
Moses speaks or writes: and when Moses has recorded his 
last fact, or testified his last truth, our faith in Moses termi- 
nates. His five books are, therefore, the length and breadth, 
the height and depth, or, in other words, the measure of our 
faith in Moses. The quality or value of faith is found in 
the quality or value of the testimony. If the testimony be 
valid and authoritative, our faith is strong and operative. 
'If,' say9 John, ( we receive the testimony of men, the tes- 
timony of God is greater,' stronger, and more worthy of 
credit. The value of a bank bill, is the amount of the pre- 
cious metals which it represents, and the indisputable evi- 
dence of its genuineness* so the value of faith is the im- 
portance of the facts which the testimony presents, and the 
assurance afforded that the testimony is true. True, or un- 
feigned faith, may be contrasted with feigned faith; but true 
faith is the belief of truth: for he that believes a lie, be- 
lieves in vain. 

The power of faith is also the power, or moral meaning 
of the testimony, or of the facts which the testimony repre- 
sents. If by faith I am transported with joy, or over 
whelmed in sorrow, that joy or sorrow is in the facts con- 
tained in the testimony, or in the nature and relation of 
those facts to me. If faith purifies the heart, works by 
love, and overcomes the world, this power is in the facts 
believed. If af father has more joy in believing that a lost 
son has been found, than in believing that a lost sheep has 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 119 

been brought home to his fold, the reason of this greater 
joy is not in the nature of his believing, but in the nature 
of the facts believed. 

Here 1 am led to expatiate on a very popular and perni- 
cious error of modern times. That error is, that the na- 
ture, or power and saving efficacy of faith, is not in the 
truth believed, but in the nature of our faith, or in the man- 
ner of believing the truth. Hence all that unmeaning jar- 
gon about the nature of faith, and all those disdainful sneers 
at what is called "historic faith," — as if there could be any 
faith without history, written or spoken. Who ever be- 
lieved in Jesus Christ, without hearing the history of him? 
'•How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard f 
Faith never can be more than the receiving of testimony 
as true, or the belief of testimony; and if the testimony be 
writtefi, it is called history — though it is as much history 
when flowing from the tongue, as when flowing from the 
pen. 

Let it be again repeated, and remembered, that there is 
other manner of believing a fact, than receiving it as 
true. If it is not received as true, it is not believed; and 
when it is believed, it is no more than regarded as true. 
This being conceded, then it follows, that the efficacy of 
faith is always in the fact believed, or the object received, 
and not in the nature or manner of believing. 

" Faith was bewildered much by men who meant 

To make it clear, so simple in itself, 

A thought so rudimentaland so plain, 

That none by comment could it plainer make. 

All faith was one- In object, not in kind. 

The difference lay. The faith that saved a sou?, 

And that which in the common truth believed, 

In essence, were the same. Hear, then, what faith, 

True Christian faith, which brought salvation, was : 

Belief in all that God revealed to men ; 

Observe, in all that God revealed to men, 

In all he promised, threatened, commanded, said* 

Without exception, and without a doubt."* 

This holds universally in all the sensitive, intellectual, and 

moral powers of man. All our pleasures and pains, all our 
joys and sorrows, are the effects of the objects of sensation, 
reflection, faith, &c, apprehended or received, and not in 
the nature of the exercise of any power or capacity with 
which we are endowed. We shall illustrate and confirm 
this assertion by an appeal to the experience of all. 



* Pollock's Course of Time, Book viii p. 189. 



120 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

Let us glance at all our sensitive powers. If, on survey- 
ing with the eye a beautiful landscape, J am pleased, and 
on surveying a battle field strewed with the spoils of death, 
I am pained, — is it in accordance with truth to say, that 
the pleasure or the pain received was occasioned by the 
nature of vision, or the mode of seeing? Was it not the 
sight, the thing seen, the object of vision, which produced 
the pleasure and the pain? The action of looking, or the 
mode of seeing, was in both cases the same; but the things 
seen, or the objects of vision, were different; — consequently, 
the effects produced were different. 

If on hearing the melody of the grove I am delighted, 
and on hearing the peals of thunder breaking to pieces the 
cloud, dark with horror, hanging over my head, 1 am terri- 
fied, — is the delight or the terror to be ascribed to the man- 
ner or nature of hearing, or to the thing heard? Is it not 
the thing heard, which produces the delight or the terror? 

If i am refreshed by the balmy fragrance of the opening 
bloom of spring, or sickened by the fetid effluvia of putrid 
carcases, — are these effects to be ascribed to the peculiar na- 
ture or mode of smelling, or to the thing smelt? Or when 
the honey and the gall come in contact with my taste, — is 
the sweet or the bitter to be regarded as the effect of my 
manner of tasting, or to the object tasted? And when 1 
touch the ice, or the blazing torch,— is the effect or feeling 
produced to be imputed to the manner of feeling them, or 
to the thing felt? May we not, then, affirm that all the 
pleasures and pains of sense; all the effects of sensation; 
are the results, not of the manner in which our five senses 
are exercised, but of the objects on which they are exer- 
cised? It may be said, without in the least invalidating 
this conclusion, that the more intimate the exercise of our 
senses is with the things on which they are exercised, the 
stronger and more forcible will be the impressions made: 
but still it is the object seen, heard, smelt, tasted, or felt, 
which affects us. 

Passing from the outward to the inward man, and on ex- 
amining the powers of intellection one by one, we shall 
find no exception to the law which pervades all our sensi- 
tive powers. It is neither the faculty of perception, nor 
the manner of perception, but the thing perceived, that ex- 
cites us to action ; it is not the exercise of reflection, but 
the thing reflected upon: it is not memory, nor the exercise 
of recollection, but the thing remembered: it is not imagi- 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 121 

nation, but the thing imagined: it is not reason itself, nor 
the exercise of reason, but the thing reasoned upon, which 
affords pleasure or pain — which excites to action — which 
cheers, allures, consoles — which grieves, disquiets, or dis- 
commodes us. 

Ascending to our volitions and our affections, we shall 
find the same universality. In a word, it is not choosing, 
nor refusing; it is not loving, hating, fearing, desiring, nor 
hoping; it is not the nature of any power, faculty, or ca- 
pacity of our nature, nor the simple exercise of them, but 
the objects or things upon which they are exercised, which 
give us pleasure or pain; which induce us to action, or in- 
fluence our behaviour. Faith, then, or the power of be- 
lieving, must be an anomalous thing; a power sui generis; 
an exception to the laws under which every power, faculty, 
or capacity of man is placed, unless its measure, quality, 
power, and efficacy be in the facts which are testified, in the 
objects on which it terminates. 

There is no connexion of cause and effect more intimate; 
there is no system of dependencies more closely linked; 
there is no arrangement of things more natural or necessa- 
ry, than the ideas represented by the terms/iictf, testimony, 
faith, and feeling. The first is for the last, and the two 
intermediates are made necessar}' by the force ofcircam- 
stances, as the means for the end. The fact, or the thing 
said or done, produces the change in the frame of mind. 
The testimony, or the report of the thing said or done, is 
essential to belief; and belief of it is necessary to bring 
the thing said or done to the heart. The change of heart 
is the end proposed in this part of the process of regenera- 
tion ; and we may see that the process on the part of Heaven 
is, thus far, natural and rational: or, in other words, consis- 
tent with the constitution of our nature.* 

CONFIRMATION OF THE TESTIMONY. 

All revealed religion is based upon facts. Testimony 
has respect to facts only; and that testimony may be credi- 
ble, it must be confirmed. These points are of so much 
importance as to deserve some illustration, and much con- 
sideration, By facts, we always mean something said or 
done. The works of God and the words of God, or the 



* Millennial Harbinger— Extra, No. 6, pp. 340—345. 
11 



122 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

things done and spoken by God, are those facts which are 
laid down and exhibited in the Bible as the foundation of 
all faith, hope, love, piety, and humanity. All true and 
useful knowledge is an acquaintance with facts. And all 
true science is acquired from the observation and compari- 
son of facts. But he that made the heart of man and gave 
him an intelligent spirit, knows that facts alone can move 
the affections, and command the passions of man. Hence 
the scheme of mercy which he has discovered to the world, 
is all contained in, and developed by, the works of mercy 
which he has wrought. 

Facts have a meaning which the understanding appre- 
hends, and the heart feels. According to the meaning or 
nature of the fact, is its effect upon us. If a friend have 
risked his life, or sacrificed his reputation or fortune to re- 
lieve us, we cannot but confide in him and love him. If an 
enemy have attempted our life, invaded our property, or 
attacked our reputation, we cannot, naturally, but hate him. 
Nothing but the command of a benefactor, or the will of 
some dear friend, who has laid us under obligation to him- 
self, can prevent us from hating our enemies. \[ a beloved 
relative have sustained some great misfortune, we must, feel 
sorry; or if he have been rescued from some impending ca- 
lamity, we must feel glad. Our joy in the latter case, and 
our sorrow in the former, arise from the meaning or nature 
of the fact. The feelings corresponding with the nature of 
the fact, are excited or called into existence the moment the 
fact is known or believed. It is known when we have wit- 
nessed it ourselves, and it is believed when reported to us 
by credible persons who have witnessed it. This is the 
chief difference between faith and knowledge. 

As existences or beings must precede knowledge, so 
facts must precede either knowledge or belief. An event 
must happen before it can be known by man — it must be 
known by some before it can be reported to others — it must 
be reported before it can be believed, and the testimony 
must be confirmed, or made credible, before it can be relied 
on. 

vSomething must be done before it can be known, report- 
ed, or believed. Hence, in the order of nature, there is 
first the fact, then the testimony, and then the belief. A 
was drowned before B reported it — B reported it before C 
believed it, and C believed it before he was grieved at it. 
This is the unchangeable and universal, order of things as 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 123 

respects belief. In this example when we reason from ef- 
fect to cause, it is grief \ belief, testimony* fact — and from 
cause to effect, it is fact, testimony, belief, grief We as- 
cend from grief to belief — from belief to testimony — from 
testimony to fact. We descend from fact to testimony — 
from testimony to belief — and from belief to grief. To this 
there is no exception, more than against the universality of 
the law of gravity. If, then, there was nothing said or 
done, there could be no testimony, and so no faith. Reli- 
gious affections spring from faith; and, theref3re, it is of 
importance, that this subject should be disintricated from 
the mysticism of the schools. 

Laws call for obedience, and testimony for belief. Where 
there is no law, there can be no obedience; and when 
there is no testimony, there can be no faith. As obedience 
cannot transcend law, so faith cannot transcend testimony. 
John's testimony went to so many facts. On his testimony 
we can believe only as far as he has testified. And so of 
all the other witnesses. The certainty of faith depends 
upon the certainty or credibility of the witnesses. But not 
so its effects. The effects depend upon the facts believed — 
the certainty upon the evidence. I may be equally certain 
that John was beheaded — that Jesus was crucified. Nay, 
I may be as certain of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, as 
I am of his death on Calvary. The testimony may be 
equally credible, and the faith equally strong; but the ef- 
fects produced are not the same. The facts believed have 
not the same meaning, are not of the same nature, and do 
not produce the same feelings or effects, i may be as cer- 
tain of the assassination of Cesar in the Senate House, as 
lam of the crucifixion of Jesus on Calvary: but as the 
facts believed are as diverse in their nature, meaning, and 
bearings upon me, as the East and the West; so the effects 
or fruits of my faith, are as different as Julius Cesar and 
Jesus Christ. 

The more ordinary the fact, the more ordinary the testi- 
mony necessary to establish it. That A B, aged 90, and 
confined for some time with sickness, died last night, re- 
quires only the most ordinary testimony to render it credi- 
ble. But that C D lived to 140, enjoying unabated vigor 
of mind and body, requires stronger testimony. But still, 
all facts happening in accordance with the ordinary and 
natural laws of things, require but good human testimony 
to make them worthy of credence. It is only extraordina- 



124 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

ry and supernatural facts which require supernatural tes- 
timony, or testimony supernaturally confirmed. This is the 
point to which we have been looking in this essay. And 
now that we have arrived at it, I would ask, How has the 
testimony of the Apostles and Evangelists been confirmed? 

To confirm a testimony, is neither more nor less than to 
make it credible to those to whom it is tendered; or, to ex- 
press the same idea in other words, it is to give men power 
to believe. Now it will not require the same amount of 
evidence to persuade an astronomer that the earth's shadow 
struck the moon last eclipse, as it would to convince an 
Indian; nor it would not require the same amount of evi- 
dence to convince a chemist that combustion was effected 
by pouring water on a certain composition of mineral sub- 
stances, as it would an unlettered swain. To make any 
testimony credible to any order of beings, regard must 
therefore be had to the capacity, attainments, and habits of 
those beings. To confirm the testimony of the Apostles 
concerning the Messiah's death, resurrection, ascension into 
heaven, and coronation as the Lord and King of the Uni- 
verse, imports no more nor no less than that it should be 
rendered every way credible to such beings as we are, or 
that we should be made able to believe it. A testimony 
confirmed, and yet incredible to those to whom it is tendered, 
is a contradiction in terms. But why emphasise on the 
word confirmed? Because the holy Apostles have empha- 
sised upon it. It is therefore necessary that we should pay 
a due regard to the confirmation of the testimony. The 
testimony is one thing, and the confirmation is another. It 
is necessary, in all important occasions in human affairs, 
that the testimony which is received between man and man 
should be confirmed by some sanction. Hence an oath for 
confirmation of testimony is an end of all strife The high- 
est confirmation which men require in ail questions of facts, 
is a solemn oath, or affirmation that the things affirmed are 
true. 

But supernatural facts require supernatural confirma- 
tions. Hence when the confirmation of the gospel is spoken 
of in the apostolic writings, it is resolved into the doings or 
works of the Holy Spirit. ''Demonstrations of the Holy 
Spirit? are the confirmatory proofs of the gospel. When 
Paul delivered the testimony of God, or the testimony con- 
cerning Jesus, to the Corinthians, he says, 'It was confirmed 
among them? And if we examine into the confirmation of 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 125 

the testimony as Paul explained it, we shall find that he 
makes the spiritual gifts, or those extraordinary and miracu- 
lous powers which the Apostles themselves displayed, and 
which so many of their converts also possessed, an assu- 
rance or confirmation of what he promulged. 

We shall only attend to the light which one of his epis- 
tles to the Corinthians throws upon this subject. After 
thanking his God for the favor bestowed upon the disciples 
in Corinth when he first visited them, he proceeds to specify 
the special favors bestowed upon the disciples in that re- 
nowned city. 'You were enriched (says he, chap. i. ver. 5.) 
with every gift by him, even with all speech and all know- 
ledge when the testimony of Christ was confirmed among 
you: so that you come behind in no gift? 'There are di- 
versities of gifts, (says he, chap, xii.) for to one disciple is 
given the word of wisdom, to another, the word of knowledge; 
to another, faith, (to be healed;) to another, the gift of heal- 
ing; to another, the ability of working in others the power 
of working miracles; to another, prophecy; to another, dis- 
cerning of spirits; to another, divers kinds of foreign 
tongues; and to another , the interpretation of foreign tongues? 
— Now the Corinthians were put in possession of these (for 
they came behind in no gift) 'when the testimony of Christ 
was confirmed among them.' For, says Paul, i came not to 
you with the excellency of speech, or the persuasive elo- 
quence of the schools, but with the demonstration of the 
Spirit and of power; that your belief of my testimony, or 
your faith, might not rest, or be founded upon human wis- 
dom or eloquence, but upon the power of God evinced in the 
demonstrations of the Spirit which confirmed my testimony 
among you. For had it not been for these demonstrations 
of the Spirit and of power, your faith could not have rested 
upon an immoveable basis. 

To those desirous to understand this subject, an exami- 
nation of this first letter to the Corinthians cannot fail to be 
most instructive; for it most clearly and unequivocally 
teaches us that the visible, audible, sensible demonstration 
of the Spirit and of power, was that supernatural attesta- 
tion of the testimony of Christ which made it credible, so 
that no man could have acknowledged Jesus of Nazareth to 
be the Almighty Lord, but by this demonstration of the 
Holy Spirit. Thus was the testimony confirmed— thus was 
Jesus demonstrated to be the only begotten Son of God— 

II* 



126 THE CHR1SNIAN SYSTEM. 

and thus, and thus only, are men enabled to believe in 
him.* 

FUNDAMENTAL FACT.j 

Amidst the uncertainty, darkness, and vice, that over- 
spread the earth, the Messiah appears, and lays a founda- 
tion of hope, of true religion, and of religious union, un- 
known, unheard of, unexpected among men. The Jews 
were united by consanguinity, and by an agreement in a 
ponderous ritual. The Gentiles rallied under every opin- 
ion, and were grouped, like filings of steel around a mag- 
net, under every possible shade of difference of thought, 
concerning their mythology. So long as unity of opinion 
was regarded as a proper basis of religious union, so long 
havfe" mankind been distracted by the multiplicity and va- 
riety of opinions. To establish what is called a system of 
orthodox opinions as the bond of union, was, in fact, offer- 
ing a premium for new diversifies in opinion, and for in- 
creasing, ad infinitum, opinions, sects, and divisions. And 
what is worse than all, it was establishing self-love and 
pride as religious principles, as fundamental to salvation; 
for a love regulated b\ similarity of opinion, is only a love 
to one's own opinion; and all the zeal exhibited in the de- 
fence of it, is but the workings of the pride of opinion. 

When the Messiah appeared as the founder of a new re- 
ligion^ systems of religion consisting of opinions and spec- 
ulations upon matter and mind, upon God and nature, upon 
virtue and vice, had been adopted, improved, reformed, and 
exploded time after time. That there was always some- 
thing superfluous, something defective, something wrong, 
something that could be improved, in every system of re- 
ligion and morality, was generally felt, and at last univer- 
sally acknowledged. But the grandeur, sublimity, and 
beauty of the foundation of hope, and of ecclesiastical or 
social union, established by the author and founder of 
Christianity, consisted in this, that the belief of one 
fact, and that upon the best evidence in the ivorld, is all 
that is requisite, as far as faith goes, to salvation. The 



* Millennial Harbinger, vol. 1. pp. 8—12. 

f The fundamental proposition is— that Jesus is the Christ. The fact, bow- 
ever, contained in this proposition is— that God has anointed Jesus of Nazareth as 
the only Saviour of 6inners. He is the promised Christ : 'God has constituted him 
Lord and Christ,'— Peter. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM, 127 

belief of this one fact and submission to one institu- 
tion expressive of it, is all that is required of Heaven to 
admission into the church, A Christian, as defined, not by 
Dr. Johnson, nor any creed-maker, but by one taught from 
Heaven, is one that believes this one fact, and has submit- 
ted to one institution, and whose deportment accords with 
the morality and virtue of the great Prophet. The one fact 
is expressed in a single proposition— that Jesus the Naza- 
rene is the Messiah. The evidence upon which it is to be 
believed is the testimony of twelve men, confirmed by pro- 
phecy, miracles, and spiritual gifts. The one institution is 
baptism into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 
of the Holy Spirit. Every such person is a disciple in the 
fullest sense of the word, the moment he has believed this 
one fact, upon the above evidence, and has submitted to the 
above mentioned institution; and whether he believes the 
five points condemned, or the five points approved by the 
synod of Dort, is not so much as to be asked of him; wheth- 
er he holds any of the views of the Calvinists or Arminians, 
Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Methodists, Baptists, or Qua- 
kers, is never once to be asked of such persons, in order to 
admission into the Christian community, called the church. 
The only doubt that can reasonably arise upon these points, 
is, whether this one fact, in its nature and necessary results, 
can suffice to the salvation of the soul, and whether the open 
avowal of it, in the overt act of baptism, can be a sufficient 
recommendation of the person, so professing, to the confi- 
dence and love of the brotherhood. As to the first of these, 
it is again and again asserted, in the clearest language, by 
the Lord himself, the Apostles Peter, Paul, and John, that he 
that believes the testimony that Jesus is the Christ, is be- 
gotten by God, may overcome the world, has eternal life, 
and is, on the veracity of God, saved from his sins. This 
should settle the first point; for the witnesses agree that 
whosoever confesses that Jesus is the Christ, and is baptiz- 
ed, should be received into the church; and not an instance 
can be produced of any person being asked for any other 
faith, in order te admission, in the whole New Testament. 
The Saviour expressly declared to Peter, that upon this fact, 
that he was the Messiah, the Son of God, he would build his 
church; and Paul has expressly declared, that "other founda- 
tion can no man lay (for ecclesiastical union) than that 
jesus is the cheist." The point is proved that we have 
assumed; and this proved, every thing is established re- 



128 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

quisite to the union of all Christians upon a proper basis. 
It must strike every man of reflection, that a religion 
requiring much mental abstraction or exquisite refine- 
ment of thought, or thai calls for the comprehension or 
even apprehension of refined distinctions and of nice sub- 
tleties, is a religion not suited to mankind in their present 
circumstances. To present such a creed as the Westmins- 
ter' as adopted, either by Baptists or Paido-Baptists; such 
a creed as the Episcopalian, or, in fact, any sectarian creed, 
composed as they all are, of propositions, deduced by logi- 
cal inferences, and couched in philosophical language, to 
all those who are fit subjects of the salvation of Heaven — 1 
say, to present such a creed to such for their examination 
or adoption, shocks all common sense. This pernicious 
course is what has paganized Christianity. Our sects and 
parties, our disputes and speculations, our orders and casts, 
so much resemble any thing but Christianity, that when we 
enter a modern synagogue, or an ecclesiastical council, we 
seem rather to have entered a Jewish sanhedrim ., a Maho- 
metan mosque, a Pagan temple, or an Egyptian cloister, 
than a Christian congregation. Sometimes, indeed, our 
religious meetings so resemble the Areopagus, the Forum, 
or the Senate, that we almost suppose ourselves to have 
been translated to Athens or Rome. Even Christian orators 
emulate Demosthenes and Cicero. Christian doctrines are 
made to assume the garb of Egyptian mysteries, and Chris- 
tian observances put on the pomp and pageantry of pagan 
ceremonies. Unity of opinion, expressed in subscription to 
voluminous dogmas imported from Geneva, Westminster, 
Edinburgh, or Rome, is made the bond of union: and a 
difference in the tenth, or ten thousandth shade of opinion, 
frequently becomes the actual cause of dismemberment or 
expulsion. The New Testament was not designed to occu- 
py the same place in theological seminaries that the car- 
cases of malefactors are condemned to occupy in medical 
halls — first doomed to the gibbet, and then to the dissecting 
knife of the spiritual anatomist. Christianity consists in- 
finitely more in good works than in sound opinions; and 
while it is a joyful truth, that he that believes and is bap- 
tized shall be saved, it is equally true that he that says, 6 i 
know him, and keeps not his commandments, is a liar, and 
the truth is not in him.'* 



* Christian Baptist, vol. 1, pp. 167— 169. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 129 



PURITY OF SPEECH. 



If I were to classify in three chapters the whole Christian 
institution, after the fashion of the modern schools, for the 
sake of being understood, I would designate them Christian 
faith, Christian worship, and Christian morality. To these 
the moderns have added two others, which, using the same 
licence, I would call human philosophy, and human tradi- 
tions. Now, in the first chapter, we, and all Christians, 
are agreed: for as Christian faith has respect, to the matters 
of fact recorded — to the direct testimony of God found in 
the iNew Testament concerning himself— -concerning his 
Son and Spirit — concerning mankind — what he has done, 
and what he will do, on it there is no debate. I find all confes- 
sion of faith, properly so called, like the four gospels, 
tell the same story so far as matters of fact or faith are con- 
cerned. 

In the second chapter we are also agreed, that God is to 
be worshipped through the Mediator — in prayer, in praise, 
public and private — in the ordinances of Christian baptism, 
the Lord'^ day, the Lord's supper, and in the devotional 
study of his word and of his works of creation and provi- 
dence. 

In the third chapter we all acknowledge the same moral 
code. What is morality, is confessed and acknowledged by 
all; but in the practice of it there are great subtractionSi 

We repudiate the two remaining chapters as having any 
place in our faith, worship, or morality; because we think 
that we have discovered that all the divisions in Protestant 
Christendom — that all the party ism, vain jangling, and here- 
sies which have disgraced the Christian profession, have 
emanated from human philosophy and human tradition. It 
is not faith, nor piety, nor morality; but philosophy and 
tradition that have alienated and estranged Christians, and 
prevented the conversion of the world. Socrates, Plato, 
and Aristotle, deserved not the reputation of philosophers, 
if Calvin, Armir.ius, and Wesley, were not worthy of it. 
The former philosophised morally on nature and ancient 
tradition — the latter, on the Bible, and human society. 

Religious philosophers on the Bible have excogitated the 
following doctrines and philosophical distinctions: — 

'The Holy Trinity.' 'Three persons of one substance, 
power, and eternity,' 'Co-essential, consubstantial, co- 



130 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

equal,' 'The Son eternally begotten of the Father,' 'An 
eternal Son,' 'Humanity and divinity of Christ,' 'The Holy 
Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son,' 
'God's eternal decrees,' 'Conditional and unconditional elec- 
tion and reprobation,' 'God out of Christ,' 'Free will,' 'Li- 
berty and necessity,' 'Original sin,' 'Total depravity,' 'Cov- 
enant of grace,'* 'Effectual calling,' 'Free grace,' 'Sov- 
ereign grace,' 'General and particular atonement,' 'Satisfy 
divine justice,' 'Common and special operations of the Holy 
Ghost,' 'imputed righteousness,' 'Inherent righteousness,' 
'Progressive sanctification,' 'Justifying and saving faith,' 
'Historic and temporary faith,' 'The direct and reflex acts of 
faith,' 'The faith of assurance, and the assurance of faith,' 
'Legal repentance,' 'Evangelical repentance,' 'Perseverance 
of the saints,'| and 'Falling from grace,'! 'Visible and invis- 
ible chureh,''Infant membership,' 'Sacraments,' 'Eucharist,' 
<Consubstantiaticn,' 'Church government,' 'The oower of 
the keys,' &c. &c. &e. 

Concerning these and all such doctrines, and all the 
speculations and phraseology to which '.hey have given 
rise, we have the privilege neither to affirm nor deny- 
neither to believe nor doubt; because God has not proposed 
them to us in his word, and there is no command to believe 
them. If they are deduced from the Scriptures, we have 
them in the facts and declarations of God's Spirit; if they 
are not deduced from the Bible, we are free from all the 
difficulties and strifes which they have engendered and cre- 
ated. 

We choose to speak of Bible things by Bible words, be- 
cause we are always suspicious that if the word is not in 
the Bible, the idea which it represents is not there; and al- 
ways confident that the things taught by God are better 
taught in the words, and under the names which the Holy 
Spirit has chosen and appropriated, than in the words which 
man's wisdom teaches. 

There is nothing more essential to the union of the disci- 
ples of Christ than purity of speech. So long as the earth 
was of one speech, the human family was united. Had 
they been then of a pure speech as well as of one speech, 
they would not have been separated. God, in his just in- 
dignation, dispersed them; and before he scattered them, 

* t X These are examples of scriptural phrases misapplied : for the corruption, 
of Christianity has heen consummated by the incursions of barbarian language, and 
by the new appropriations of the sacred style. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 131 

he divided their language. One of his Prophets, who lived 
in a degenerate age, who prophesied against the corruptions 
of his day, when he spoke of better times, of an age of union 
and communion, was commanded to say in the name of the 
Lord, 'Then will I turn to the people a. pure language, that 
they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him 
with one consent™' Purity of speech is here declared to be 
prerequisite to serving the Lord with one consent. 

'The words of the Lord are pure words.'j To have a pure 
speech we must choose the language of Canaan, and aban- 
don that of Ashdod, And if we would be of one mind, we 
must 'speak the same thing.'' This was Paul's scheme of 
union, and no man can suggest a better. 

It requires but little reflection to discover that the fiercest 
disputes about religion, are about what the Bible does not 
say, rather than about what it does say— about words and 
phrases coined in the mint of speculative theology. Of 
these the homousios and the homoousios of the ever-memo- 
rable Council of Nice are a fair sample. Men are neither 
wiser, more intelligent, nor belter afier, than before, the} r 
know the meaning of these words. As far as known on 
earth, there is not in 'the Book of Life of the Lamb slain 
from the foundation of the world,' the name of any person 
who was either converted or sanctified to God by any of these 
controversies about human dogmas, nor by any thing learn- 
ed from the canons or creeds of all the Councils, from that 
of Nice to the last Methodistic Conference. 

It is a virtue, then, to forget this scholastic jargon, and 
even the names of the dogmas which have convulsed Chris- 
tendom. It is a concession due to the crisis in which we 
live, for the sake of peace, to adopt the vocabulary of Hea- 
ven, and to return the borrowed nomenclature of the schools 
to its rightful owners— -to speculate no more upon the opin- 
ions of Saint Austin, Saint Tertullian, Saint Origen — to 
speak of the Father, and the Son, and of the Holy Spirit — 
of the gospel, of faith, of repentance, of baptism, of election, 
of the death of Christ, of his mediation, of his blood, of the 
reconciliation, of the Lord's supper, of the atonement, of the 
church of God, &c. &c, in all the phrases found in the Re 
cord, without partiality — to learn to love one another as 
much when we differ in opinion as when we agree, and to 
distinguish between the testimony of God, and man's rea- 
sonings and philosophy upon it. 

* Zephar.iah iii. 9. j Psalm xii . 6, 



132 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

I need not say much upon the chapter of human tradi- 
tions. They are easily distinguished from the Apostles* 
traditions. Those of the Apostles are found in their writ- 
ings, as those of men are found in their own books. Some 
human traditions may have a show of wisdom, but it is only 
an appearance. So long as it is written, 'In vain do they 
worship roe, teaching for doctrines the commandments of 
men,' so long will it be presumptuous folly to add the com- 
mandments of men to the precepts of Jesus Christ. I know 
of but one way in which all the believers in Jesus Christ, 
honorably to themselves, honorably to the Lord, andadvan 
tageously to all the sons of Adam, can form one communion. 
All have two chapters too many in their present ecclesiastic 
constitutions. The contents of the aforesaid two chapters 
are various and different in all the sects, but they all have 
these two chapters under some name. In some they are 
long, and in some they are short; but whether long or short, 
let every one agree to tear them out. of his book and burn 
them, and be satisfied with faith, piety, and morality. Let 
human philosophy and human tradition, as any- part of the 
Christian institution, be thrown overboard into the sea, and 
then the ship of the church will make a prosperous, safe, and 
happy voyage across the ocean of time, and finally, under 
the triumphant flag of Imrnanuel, gain a safe anchorage in 
the haven of eternal rest. 

I would appeal to every honorable, good, and loyal citizen 
of the kingdom of Heaven-— to every one that seeks the good 
of Zion, that loves the kingdom and the appearing of our 
common Lord and Saviour, whether such a concession be not 
due to the Lord, to the saints in heaven and on earth, and to 
the whole human race in the crisis in which we are now pla- 
ced; and whether we could propose less, or ought to demand 
more, than to make one whole burnt offering of all our "empty 
and deceitful philosophy," — our "science, falsely so called," 
— and our traditions received from our fathers. I would 
leave it to the good sense of every sane mind to say, wheth- 
er such a whole burnt offering would not be the most accep- 
table peace offering, which, in this ourday, could be present- 
ed on the altar of the Prince of Peace; and whether, under 
the teachings of the Apostles of the Great Prophet, the 
church might not again triumphantly stand upon the holy 
ground, which she so honorably occupied before Origen, 
Austin, Athanasius, or the first Pope was born!* 

* Millennial Harbinger, vol. 6, pp. 109—113- 



Kingdom of Heaven* 

GENERAL ESSAYS * 

PATRIARCHAL AGE OF THE WORLD. 



The world had its infancy as well as man. Families 
^receded nations. Family worship was, therefore, the first 
religious institution. 

At the head of this institution naturally stood the father 
of every family . From necessity and from choice, he was 
the prophet, the priest 5 and the king of his household. As 
a prophet, he instructed his household in the knowledge of 
God, and in the history of man. As a priest, he officiated 
at the family altar, interceded for those under his care, and 
pronounced benedictions upon his children. As a lawgiver 
and king, he commanded his children and servants, and re- 
warded them according to merit. By a divine ordinance, 
the first fathers of mankind were thus constituted prophets, 
priests, and kings. Hence, the first religious and political 
institution is properly called Hhe Patriarchal? 

Family worship was, then, the first social worship; and 
during the first ages of the world (for at least 2500 years) 
it was the only social worship, of divine authority. Though 
other institutions have since been added, this has never 
been superseded. Having its foundation in the matrimo- 

* These essays do not appear in the order in which they were written and 
published. We place the last witten, first; because, in the natural order of things, 
general views of the nature of the Christian kingdom ought to precede the special 
development of its peculiar institutions. They appeared first in the form of extras 
to the regular series of the Millennial Harbinger; and as we thought it expedient to 
preserve them, as much as possible, in their original form, this will apologize for 
several repetitions which may appear in them. 

All the leading and characteristic principles of that reformation for which we 
plead, as far as the gospel institution is concerned, may be learned from them. 
Much, indeed, of the proof of some of the propositions found in these essays, lies 
scattered over the face of several volumes; but such a miniature view of the evi- 
dence by which they are sustained, as, in most cases, is sufficient to the conviction 
of the reader, will be found embodied in them. Those, however, who may not be 
perfectly satisfied with the arguments offered, must be referred to the various dis- 
cussions of these principles, found in the Christian Baptist, and Millennial Har- 
binger. 

12 



134 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

nial compact, the most, ancient of all religious and political 
institutions, and this being founded on nature itself, it never 
can be superseded. While the forms of this worship have 
always been adapted to the genius of the various revelations 
of God vouchsafed to mankind, it has continued through all 
the changes of six thousand years, and will continue till the 
day when men, like the angels of God, shall neither marry 
nor give in marriage. 

Family worship, so long as it continued the only social 
worship, underwent no material change; and this is the 
period which is properly called the Patriarchal age of the 
world. So long as the descendants of one man and one 
woman continued under the paternal roof, or until they be- 
came heads of families themselves, they continued under 
this religious and political administration. And if, after 
marriage, they did not migrate to a great distance from the 
patrimonial inheritance, the paternal authority was still ac- 
knowledged and acquiesced in. Thus, in process of time, 
he who at first was only the head of a single family, if his 
days were prolonged and his progeny multiplied, beeame 
the paternal prince, or chief patriarch of a tribe. 

In the youth of time and freshness of human nature, fam- 
ilies soon became large; and as the father and head could 
not always be present while he lived, and as he might die 
before all his children could have become heads of families, 
it became necessary that a substitute in his absence, and a 
successor in case of his premature death, should be appoint- 
ed to fill his place and administer the affairs of the family. 
Nature and reason alike pointed to the first born son, and 
religion consecrated him his vicegerent. Hence, the privi- 
leges and honors of the first born son were both religious 
and political; and thus the duties devolving upon him gave 
him a right to a double portion of the inheritance. Esau 
was, therefore, both prodigal and profane in selling his 
birthright for a meal of pottage. 

The antiquity of this arrangement appeared from the 
envy and jealousy of Cain, roused at the rejection of his 
offering, and the acceptance of that of Abel. That jealousy- 
seems to have been kindled into rage because of his birth- 
right. This is fairly implied in God's address to Cain, 
when that address is fairly translated and understood. "If 
you do well, shall you not have the excellency; and if you 
do not well, sin precludes you (from the excellency.) And 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 135 

(Abel shall be subject to you) to you shall be his desire, 
and you shall rule over him."* 

The moral and religious institutions of the patriarchal or 
family worship, which continued from the fall of Adam to 
the covenant of circumcission, were the Sabbath, the service 
of the altar, oral instruction, prayer, praise, and benedic- 
tion. With the addition of circumcision in the family of 
one patriarch, for special purposes these were the parts of 
that system which continued for two thousand five hundred 
years. 

The religious observance of weeks or Sabbaths in com- 
memoration of Creation, and prospective of an eternal rest, 
to arise out of the sacrificial and typical institution, was 
religiously observed to the giving of the law, or the erection 
of the Jewish institution. Thus the law of the Sabbath 
commences with the words, "Remember the Sabbath." The 
righteous always remembered the weeks, and regarded the 
conclusion of the week as holy to the Lord. Hence, even 
after the apostacy, which issued in the neglect of family 
worship, in consequence of the sons of God intermarrying 
with the daughters of men, and which brought a flood of 
water upon the world of the ungodly — we find Noah reli- 
giously counting his weeks even while incarcerated in the 
ark. In the wilderness of Sin, before the giving of the 
law, we also find the Jews observing the Sabbath. And to 
facilitate the observance of it, God wrought three special 
miracles during the peregrinations of Israel. He gave two 
days' portion of manna on the sixth day — none on the 
seventh — and preserved from putrefaction the portion laid 
up for the Sabbath.t 

Sin offerings and thank offerings, on altars both of stone 
and earth, were presented to the Lord — the former in faith 
of the promise concerning the bruising of the serpent's 
head by the offspring of the woman — the latter in grateful 
acknowledgment of the goodness of God in creation and 
providence. Cain, without faith in the promised redemp- 
tion, like many deists and natural religionists in our time, 
did acknowledge the goodness and care of God by a thank- 
offering; but Abel, by faith in that promise, not only offered 
his thank offering, but a lamb as a sin offering: therefore, 
while God respected not Cain's oblation without faith in 



* Genesis iv. 7. f Exodus xvi, 15-27. 



136 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

that promise, he testified in favor of the gifts of Abel— he 
accepted his sin offering and his thank offering. 

in the very brief and general outlines of almost two 
thousand five hundred years given us in the book of Gene- 
sis, we find sundry allusions to this part of the patriarchal 
institution. Immediately after his egress from the ark, we 
find Noah rearing his altar upon the baptized earth, and of 
every clean bird and beast offering to the Lord whole burnt 
offerings. Thus began Noah, after the deluge, to worship 
the Lord according to the patriarchal institution. And thus 
we find Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Job, and other patriarchs 
presenting their sacrifices to the Lord, while the family 
worship was the only religious institution in the world. 

Even libations, drink offerings, and anointing as token of 
gratitude and consecration, are found in this most ancient 
and venerable, institution. "Jacob rose up early in the 
morning, took the stone which he had put for his pillow, set 
it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it."** "And 
Jacob set up a pillar in the place where God talked with him, 
even a pillar of stone, and he poured a drink offering there- 
on, and he poured oil thereon,"t 

A beautiful and instructive instance of ancient family 
worship, and of the sacerdotal functions, as exercised by the 
patriarchs in reference to the altar, we have in that most 
ancient of books, supposed by many to have been written 
by Moses while in the land of Midian; but according to 
others, by Job himself, who was certainly contemporary 
with Elipkaz the Temanite. Eiiphaz was the son of Teman 9 
who was the son of Eiiphaz, who was the first son of Esau ? 
the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham. He therefore lived 
before Moses. Thus we find him also officiating at the 
altar. We are told that "his sons went and feasted in each 
other's houses, every one his day, and sent and called for 
their sisters to eat and drink with them. And it was so ? 
that when the days of their feasting had gone about, that 
Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morn- 
ing and offered burnt offerings according to the number of 
them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned 
and cursed God in their hearts. Thus acted Job continu- 
ally."t 

The same Job, by divine appointment, acted as priest o? 
intercessor in behalf of his three friends, princes of Edom/: 

* Gen8isxxviii.l8. j Gen « Gen - x*xv. 14. tJobi.4, 9* 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 137 

for having spoken amiss, they were commanded to take 
seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to Job, the servant of 
God, and to offer them up for themselves; and "Job my ser- 
vant shall pray for you." "Job prayed for them, and the 
Lord accepted his prayer, and forgave Eliphaz, Bildad, and 
Zophar." "The Lord also accepted and blessed Job after he 
had prayed for these his friends, and the Lord turned again 
the captivity of Job. v * 

During this period of the world, there was but one high 
or general priest, specially called and sent by God. "He 
was King of Salem and Priest of the Most High God." To 
him the patriarch Abraham paid tithes or gave the tenth of 
the spoils taken in war, and Melchisedeck blessed him. He 
was of an order of his own sort. He had no predecessor, 
successor, nor equal in the age of family worship, 

From all these facts and documents we learn that the 
service of the altar belonged first to the father of the fami- 
ly — next, to his eldest son — that it consisted in presenting 
sin offerings and thank offerings of various sorts in behalf 
of himself or family — that all pious sons and individuals 
might for themselves erect altars, offer sacrifices, and pour 
out libations and thank offerings to the Lord; — -that these 
sacrificial observances ware generally, if not always, ac- 
companied with prayer, intercession, and thanksgivings;— 
and that intercession in behalf of those under the care of 
any father or patriarch was a part of the first institution. 

Benediction also was one of the duties of this office. 
Fathers pronounced blessings on their children. Superiors 
in age and standing blessed their inferiors. Melchisedeck 
blessed Abraham, Isaac blessed Jacob, and Jacob blessed 
the twelve patriarchs. The invocations of blessings and 
the imposition of hands upon ihe head, were parts of the 
family w r orship institution. 

Concerning prayer and praise, as we cannot imagine a 
religion without them, it is unnecessary to speak particular- 
ly of them as parts of the patriarchal institution. Jubal 
soon taught men to handle the harp and the organ, and piety 
soon consecrated them to the praise of God. The melodies 
of nature soon taught man to tune his voice to God. Isaac 
went out into the fields at eventide for secret prayer. Abra- 
ham interceded for Sodom until he was ashamed to push 
his importunities farther; and for Abimelech, king of 

* Job xliii.- 8-10. 

12* 



138 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

Egypt, and his family, he made his requests to God. Of 
him and his patriarchal character God said, "I know Abra- 
ham that he will command his children, and his household 
after him, and they shall keep the ways of the Lord, to do 
justice and judgment, that the Lord may bring upon Abra- 
ham that which he has spoken of him."* 

Prophets of a public character were occasionally raised 
up to bring men back to the primitive simplicity of the pa- 
triarchal institution, as well as to lead them forward to the 
future developments of God's purposes in reference to this 
work of redemption. Amongst these the most conspicuous 
were Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. To all these 
were given new visions of the future, and thus they were 
all preachers of righteousness and reformers in their re- 
spective generations. 

From these gleanings from the book of Genesis, one may 
learn that the family worship institution, which was divinely 
instituted in the first age of the world, embraced the ob- 
servance of the Sabbath, the service of the altar, oral in- 
struction, pra\rer, intercession, thanksgiving, and benedic- 
tion. It contemplated no other bond of union than the 
marriage covenant, and the relations springing out of it. 
Doing justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God, 
were enforced in all its maxims, and in the examples of 
those whom God honored and approved. 

There was, during the long period of this family institu- 
tion, no community separated from the world larger than a 
single household — no public altars — no temples — no esta- 
blished order of public teachers; therefore, there was no 
initiating or separating institutions. There was no cur- 
cumcision for the infant, nor washing of regeneration for the 
instructed. These institutions of latter times had respect 
to public professing communities; and therefore, for two 
thousand years there was no initiating rite or ordinance 
amongst men. 

Wherever the family curtains were spread and a tent 
erected, the devout father built his own altar to the Lord, 
gathered his own children and domestics around him, in- 
structed them in the knowledge of God the creator and pre- 
server of all; and in the history of man, his origin and des- 
tiny, as far as revealed to them. They offered their thank 
offerings, acknowledgments of favors received; and when 

* Genesis xviii. 19. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 139 

conscious of sin, they presented their sin offering, with con- 
fessions, and in faith of God's promise, supplicated pardon. 
Such are the essential attributes of the patriarchal institu- 
tion, and of the family worship, as learned from the writings 
of Moses. 

But as the root of all the subsequent dispensations of 
God's mercy and favor to man was planted in the patriarchal 
institution, it is necessary to our pian, before we advance 
farther, to pay some attention to one of these patriarchs, 
whose fame is eternal, on whom God bestowed an honor 
above all earthly honor, and who stands enrolled in the 
annals of time, as the friend of god. The intelligent 
reader needs not to be informed that we now call his atten- 
tion specially to 

ABRAHAM. 

Reader, attend! "I am the God of Abraham, the God 
of Isaac, and the God of Jacob: this is my name for- 
ever, and this is my memorial to ail generations/' And 
shall not the name, the calling, the blessing, and the history 
of Abraham always occupy a large space in the records of 
God's government of man, and in all the details of his re- 
demption! 

Because of his unprecedented faith in God's promises 
and exalted piety, he was constituted the father of all be- 
lievers; and his whole life is made a model for all the chil- 
dren of God, as far as walking by faith in God's promises 
is an ornament to human character. 

Sufficient then, to our present purpose, we observe, that 
during the family worship institution, a little after the com- 
mencement of the third Millennium, about the 75th year 
of his life, God appeared to Abraham while he yet lived in 
Ur of Chaldea, and commanded him to depart out of that 
country, and that he would do for him certain things. 
Abraham obeyed. God gratuitously tendered to him two 
promises, not only interesting and valuable to Abiaham 
himself, but to all the human race. 

These two promises were intended to be the basis of a 
two-fold relation to God, and the foundation of two distinct 
religious institutions, called "the Old Testament and the 
New," "the Old Covenant and the New," "the Two Cove- 
nants," and "the Covenants of Promise." There are con- 
templated in them the constitution for a temporal and spirit- 



140 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

ual kingdom of God — a kingdom of God of this world, and 
a kingdom of God not of this world. Be it, therefore, al- 
ways remembered, when we attempt to form correct views 
of the whole economy of God's redemption, that these two 
promises were made while the patriarchal institution was 
yet standing and several centuries before its close. What, 
then, it will be asked, are these 

TWO PROMISES? 

We find them in their most simple form in the beginning of 
the 12th chapter of Genesis. The first— 

"/ will make of thee a great nation, and 1 will Mess thee 
and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing. I 
will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse iheeP 

The second — "In thee shall all the families of the earth 
be blessed" 

These promises when fully developed contained numer- 
ous blessings. They are, howevever, in all their details se- 
parate and distinct from each other. Abraham's family 
alone are personally concerned in the first— all families of 
the earth in the second. Temporal and earthly are the 
blessings of the former— spiritual and eternal are the bless- 
ings of the latter. Paul calls the second, "The gospel 
preached to Abraham," and ^The covenant confirmed by 
God in reference to the Messiah, four hundred and thirty 
years before the giving of the law." The Jewish kingdom 
in all its glory was but the, development of the first — the 
Christian kingdom in its present and future blessings is the 
consummation of the second. 

COVENANT OF CIRCUMCISION. 

In pursuance of the first promise, and in order to its 
exact and literal accomplishment, about twenty-four years 
after its promulgation the "Covenant of Circumcision" was 
established, This "covenant in the flesh," marked out and 
defined the natural descendants of Abraham, and gave to 
the world a full proof of the faithfulness of God, putting it 
in the power of every one to ascertain how God keeps his 
covenants of promise with all people. This gave to the 
decendants of Abraham the title of "The Circumcision" 
and beautifully represented the separation of God's people 
from the children of this world. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. lit 

The land of Canaan, as the inheritance of this nation, is 
repeatedly promised to Abraham; and as soon as Isaac, the 
child of promise, is born and circumcised, the promise of 
the "seed" in which all nations were to be blessed, is con- 
fined to him. Not in Ishmael, but "in Isaac shall thy seed 
be called."* 

After the death of Abraham and towards the close of the 
life of Isaac, his father's God gave him a second edition of 
these two promises. The first is considerably amplified in 
its details, while the second is repeated almost in the same 
words. That which was first to be accomplished is first 
developed, and its provisions pointed out. U I will be with 
thee and will bless thee; for unto thee and to thy seed I will 
give all these countries, and I will perform all the oath 
which I swear to Abraham thy father; and will make thy 
seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give to thy 
seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the na- 
tions of the earth be blessed: because Abraham obeyed my 
voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, 
and my Iaws."t 

The same two promises are repeated in almost the same 
words to Jacob the son of Isaac at the time he had the vision 
of the ladder reaching from earth to heaven, while in obe- 
dience to a command given him by his parents, he was on 
his way to Padan-aram in quest cf a wife. On these three 
great occasions — to Abraham — to Isaac — to Jacob — these 
two promises are solemnly pronounced; always standing in 
the same order — never confounded; but as distinct as earth 
and heaven — as time and eternity. 

Four hundred and thirty years after the first solemn de- 
claration of these promises, the descendants of Abraham, 
Isaac, and Jacob, in virtue of the promise, were redeemed 
out of bondage in Egypt, and saved from the tyranny and 
cruelty of Pharioh. Then, in order to the full completion 
of its stipulations, God, by the hand of Moses, proposed 
a covenant with all Israel at Sinai; in which he guaranties 
to do all for them contemplated in the promise, confirmed 
by an oath to Abraham, in being a God to his seed after him. 
This 

SINAITIC COVENANT 

constituted them a kingdom of God, a holy nation, a pecu- 
liar people. All the blessings comprehended in the first 

* Genesi3 xxi. 12. f Genesi3 xxiv. 3, 5. 



142 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

promise to Abraham, or that could grow out of the relation 
to God, which it contemplated, were in full detail carried 
out into this transaction, and secured to the whole nation. 
The relation was, however, temporal, and its blessings tem- 
poral and earthly. The second promise made no part of 
the Jewish institution or covenant at Sinai, more than it 
did of the patriarchal or antecedent institution. The typi- 
cal or figurative part of the family worship, enlarged and 
improved, was translated into the national institution and 
made a part of it; and whatever spiritual privilege was en- 
joyed by the Jew, was enjoyed upon the same principle 
with the patriarch— -by faith in the second promise, and by 
an intelligent and believing attendance upon all the appoint- 
ed means which either prefigured the coming redemption, 
or realized the blessings which were to be derived through 
the promised seed. 

The seed in which all the families of the earth were to 
be blessed, was in the nation, but in no other sense than 
as it was in the people while in Egypt, or in the patriarchs 
before they went down into Egypt. It was in the nation, 
but no element of the national institution. They had the 
second promise made to their fathers, and all the faithful 
and approved among them believed that promise, and acted 
conformably to it. Thus amongst the Jews, even before 
the coming of the Messiah, there were 

TWO SEEDS, 

The natural and the spiritual children of Abraham, The 
whole nation were his literal and natural children; and 
such of them as believed the second promise and understood 
it, were not only his natural children, but his children in 
the same sense in which all believing Gentiles are by virtue 
of the second promise constituted the children of Abraham. 
The first, like Ishmael, were born according to the flesh — 
the fleshly seed of Abraham; the second, like Isaac, were 
the children of faith in the promise: and thus Abraham is 
the constituted father of all who believe in that promise, 
whether of his flesh or not. 

But the second promise was not fulfilled for nearly one 
thousand five hundred years after the first, or after the na- 
tional institution was confirmed at Sinai; and therefore 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 143 



THE BLESSING OF ABRAHAM, 

Which was to come on the nations through his seed, through 
faith in the accomplished promises, was to be the basis and 
the substance of a new institution. This "blessing of 
Abraham" includes all the spiritual and eternal blessings 
which were laid up in his seed, who is the ark of this new 
constitution, in whom all the promises of God are verified, 
and in whom they are deposited for all the comfort and sal- 
vation of all the children of God. Whatever concerned the 
family of Abraham, coming through the first promise, de- 
scended upon the family principle, which is only flesh; but 
whatever concerns all saints of all nations descends upon 
the new principle of faith. "They who are of faith," says 
Paul, "are blessed with believing Abraham." And "If you 
be Christ's, then," and only then, "are you Abraham's seed 
and heirs according to the promise." 

The blessing of Abraham was then promised in the pa- 
triarchal age antecedent to the Jewish national institution, 
and independent of it; therefore that institution cannot af- 
fect, much less disannul, the blessings promised in the cove- 
nant, confirmed before by God, respecting the Messiah, in 
the time of family worship, and four hundred and thirty 
years before the Jewish institution began. 

In calling Abraham, and in making him the father of 
many nations, and the depository of still more precious 
promises and revelations, God did not supersede the family 
worship. He only added to the stock of religious know* 
ledge, strengthened the faith, and enlarged the hopes of 
that single family. The family institution continued with- 
out the slightest change, except in one particular specified 
in the covenant of circumcission, as respected the single 
family of Abraham, for four hundred and thirty years after 
the charter concerning his seed and that concerning the 
Messiah were secured to this renowned patriarch. Thus 
we have traced the continuance of the family religion, or 
patriarchal economy, for two thousand five hundred years, 
and are now prepared to make a few remarks on the Jewish 
national institution, though we have already anticipated al- 
most all that is necessary to our present object. Still, how- 
ever, we shall make it the subject of a distinct notice. 



144 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 



THE JEWISH INSTITUTION. 



Jn this age of improvement of divine institutions, we 
read and hear much of "two dispensations of the covenant 
of grace;" thus making the Jewish and the Christian insti- 
tutions dispensations of one "covenant of grace." Why 
not make the patriarchal, (still more venerable for its an- 
tiquity, and which continued a thousand years longer than 
the Jewish,) also a dispensation of the covenant of grace, 
and then we should have had three dispensations of one 
covenant! This is but a "show of wisdom." The Holy 
Spirit calls them "two covenants," or "two institutions," 
and not two modifications of one covenant; and it speaks 
of each as established upon promises. The Jewish was es- 
tablished upon temporal and earthly promises, contained in 
the first promise made to Abraham ; but the new, says Paul, 
"is established upon better 'promises" growing out of that 
concerning the blessing of the nations in the promised seed.* 

The Jewish institution commenced and continued about 
1500 years before the Reign of Heaven began. It was not 
substituted for the family worship, but added to it; affect- 
ing, however, the patriarchal institution in some respects, 
as far as concerned the single family of Abraham. The 
individual families of the nation of the Jews, as such, had 
still their family worship — still the worship of God was 
heard in the dwellings of the righteous; and, like Joshua, 
every good Israelite said, "As for me and my family, we 
will serve the Lord," 

In four hundred years the family of Abraham had, in the 
line of Isaac and Jacob, in fulfilment of the first promise, 
grown up into millions. Not less than two millions! came 
up out of Egypt under the conduct of Moses. The heavenly 
Father, in progressive development of his plan of blessing 
all nations, leaves all the world under the family worship 
institution, and erects the whole progeny of Abraham that 
came up out of Egypt into one great national institution. 
He condescends to appear in the character of King of the 
Jews, and to make them a kingdom of God, as preparatory 
to the appearance of his Son, who is predestined to be the 
King of the whole earth, and to have a kingdon which shall 
ultimately embrace all the nations of the world. 

* Jeremiah xxxi. 31. 

t Men fit for war are never more than the third or fourth of any population. 
-There were six hundred thousand men of this class when they came to Mount Sinai. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 145 

The twelve tribes were brought into the form of one 
great worshipping family, presenting through the common 
High Priest their united worship to God. This gave rise 
to the erection of one public house consecrated to the Lord, 
as the place of meeting in their social and national charac- 
ter. A constitution, political, moral, and religious, was 
submitted to the people; and on their adoption of it, they 
became the covenanted people of God. This constitutional 
kingdom was built upon precepts and promises; and its wor- 
ship when fully developed was little more than the extension 
of the family worship to one great national family. They 
had one king, one high priest, one national altar, one national 
house of God, one morning and evening sacrifice, one great 
national sacrifice, and one great annual atonement. The 
nation was a family of families, and whatever pertained to 
a single family in its family worship was extended and ac- 
commodated to this great confederate familv. 

Various mystic and significant institutions distinguished 
this nation from all others; for it was one principal object 
of its institution to keep its subjects separate and distinct 
from all other people till Messiah (the promised seed) should 
come. Another object was, to picture out in appropriate 
types the spiritual worship of the kingdom of heaven, and 
to exhibit the great doctrine of faith, repentance, remission, 
adoption, and inheritance, by picturesque images, ingenious- 
ly devised to adumbrate the whole doctrine of reconciliation 
and sanctification to God. 

The Jewish institution is not to be regarded only in its 
political, moral, and religious aspects, but especially in its 
figurative and prospective character. God so wisely and 
benevolently contrived it from its origin to its close, that 
its whole history — the fates and fortunes of its subjects from 
their descent into Egypt, their travels thence to Canaan and 
settlement in the land of promise — their fortunes in that 
land to their final catastrophe, should exactly and impres- 
sively shadow forth the new institution with the fates and 
fortunes of the subjects of this new and more glorious order 
of things. "All these things happened to them for types" 
(examples,) says Paul, "and they are written for our admo- 
nition, upon whom the ends of the world have come." The 
same great commentator on this institution not only presents 
the history of its subjects as instructive to the citizens of the 
new institution, but of the tabernacle he says, "It was a 
figurative representation for the time then present," and the 

13 



14(5 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

furniture thereof "the patterns of things in the heavens;* 5 
"The law," he adds, "contained only a shadow of the good 
things to come." A shadow, indeed, proceeding from a man ? 
a house, a tree, is not, and cannot be, an exact image or 
representation of them; yet when explained by a verbal 
description, it greatly facilitates an easy and correct con- 
ception of them. 

So full of the doctrine of the new institution was the old, 
that we find all the Apostles and Christian writers uncere- 
moniously applying every thing they quote from the law, the 
prophets, and the psalms, to the Messiah, his kingdom, and 
the fortunes of his people; as if the Jewish writings had 
no other object than to unfold the kingdom of heaven. Je- 
sus begins with Abraham seeing his day on Mount Moriah. 
in the typical resurrection of Isaac. Paul regards Hagar, 
Ishmaei, Parah, Issac, as the best illustration of the two in- 
stitutions; and John ends with the description of the descent, 
of Jerusalem from heaven. 

Every one, then, who would accurately understand the 
Christian institution must approach it through the Mosaic; 
and he that would be a proficient in the Jewish, must make 
Paul his commentator. While the mere politician, moral- 
ist, or religionist, contemplates the one without the other, 
though he may find much to admire in both, he will never 
understand either. A veil, thick as that which concealed 
the glory of the face of Moses from the Israelites, will hide 
the glory of the Jewish and Christian institution from his 
view. 

Not only did the tabernacle, the temple, their furniture, 
the service of both, the priests, the sacrifices, the festivals, 
the convocations, and all the ordinances of that Ritual, to- 
gether with the history of that people, assume the pictur- 
esque and figurative character, but almost all the illustrious 
and highly distinguished personages of that institution were 
made prophetic or typical of the Messiah or of the great 
incidents of his life, sufferings, and triumphs, and the lead- 
ing affairs of his government. Amongst persons in the 
patriarchal and Jewish ages, who, in one or more promi- 
nent characters or incidents, or in their general history 
adumbrated the Messiah and his reign, the following group 
occupy a lofty eminence: — Adam, Abel, Noah, Melchise- 
deck, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Aaron, Joshua, Samson* 
JDavid, Jonah. Of things of this class, as well as persons 
highly figurative and instructive, are the visions of Jacob's 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 147 

ladder — the burning bush — the pillar of cloud and fire — the 
manna — the rock Horeb, a fountain of living water in the 
wilderness — the veil of Moses — the brazen serpent— the 
victory over the nations of Canaan, and the land of Canaan 
itself. And of ordinances, the passover, the scape goat, the 
red heifer, the year of jubilee, the law of the leper, the 
kinsman redeemer, the cities of refuge; together with all 
the sacrifices, washings, anointings, and consecrations of 
the holy nation. 

But a third object of the Jewish institution, of paramount 
importance to the world, was the furnishing of a new alpha- 
bet and language (the elements of heavenly science,) with- 
out which it would appear to have been almost, if not al- 
together, impossible to learn the spiritual things, or to make 
any proficiency in the knowledge of those relations which 
Christianity unfolds The language of the new institution 
is therefore explained by that of the old. No one can un- 
derstand the dialect of the kingdom of heaven who has not 
studied the dialect of the antecedent administrations of 
heaven over the patriarchs and Jews. The most striking 
and characteristic attribute of the sacred dialect is, that the 
elements of it are composed of the incidents of history, or 
what we call remarkable providences. 

I cannot explain myself better, nor render my readers a 
more essential service, than by illustrating by an actual 
detail of sacred history, the following proposition, viz: — 
That sacred history or the remarkable instances of God^s 
providences to the Jews and Patriarchs, are the foundation 
of the sacred dialect of the new institution. Or, if the 
reader will understand it better, it maybe thus expressed — 
All the leading words and phrases of the New Testament 
are to be explained and understood by the history of the 
Jewish nation and God^s government of them. Take the 
following as a mere specimen: — 

God called Abram out of Ur, and changed his name into 
Abraham; and the name of his wife Sarai into Sarah, He 
'promised Issac as the person in whom his seed should be 
called, God did tempt Abraham, commanding him to offer 
Isaac for a burnt offering— Isaac had two sons — Esau the 
elder, and Jacob the younger. Esau despised his birthright 
and sold it to Jacob. Jacob wrestled with God, and pre- 
vailed; he obtained a blessing, and was therefore called 
Israel. He had ttvelve sons : of these Joseph was his fa- 
vorite. His brethren envied him, and sold him for twenty 



148 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM, 

pieces of silver. Joseph found grace in the sight of his 
master. The Lord was with Joseph, He was cast into 
prison, and from thence was elevated to be the governor of 
Egypt under Pharaoh. A famine in Canaan compelled 
Jacob and his sons into Egypt for bread, and Joseph was 
made known to his brethren. Joseph died in Egypt and left 
his father's house in that land. They multiplied exceed- 
ingly, and the Egyptians greatly afflicted and oppressed 
the Israelites. Moses was born and exposed: Pharaoh's 
daughter found him and adopted him for a son. Moses fled 
into Midian, and married the daughter of the priest or prince 
of Midian, and kept his father-in-law's flock in the desert, 
and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. The Lord ap- 
peared to him in a fame of fire in a bush. The bush 
burned and was not consumed. Moses drew near, and then 
first stood on holy ground. God sent him to Egypt to lead 
his people out of bondage. 

God made him say to the children of Israel, 'I am has 
sent me to you. Gather the elders of Israel and say to 
them, The Lord God of your fathers , the God of Abraham,' 
&c, 'has sent me to you. I will smite Egypt with my won- 
ders, and bring you up out of the afflictions of Egypt. Tell 
Pharaoh, Israel is my son — my first born. Take Aaron with 
thee, and thou &ha\t put words into his mouth; and 1 will be 
with thy mouth and with his mouth: he shall be to thee in- 
stead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God. 
Take thy rod in thy hand. The Lord sent Aaron to Moses : 
he met him in the mount and kissed him. And the Lord 
visited his people. And the people believed when they heard 
that the Lord had looked upon their affliction. Pharaoh 
oppressed them still more. The Lord said, with a strong 
hand shall he let them go. I will redeem them with a 
stretched out arm and with great judgments, I will give 
you Canaan for a heritage: I will take you to me for a peo- 
ple. I will be your God? 

Moses said, I am a man of uncircumcised lips, and how 
shall Pharaoh hearken to me? I have made thee a god to 
Pharaoh, and Aaron thy prophet. 1 will multiply my signs^ 
and bring out my people, and harden Pharaoh's heart. 
When he says, "Show me a miracle," cast your rod before 
him, and it shall become a serpent. Still Pharaoh refused, 
and hardened his heart. T he magicians overcome with the 
signs, said, This is the finger of God. The God of the 
Hebrews said, Let my people go. I have roused thee up 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 149 

(as a lion) to show in you my power and to make my name 
known through all the earth. The Lord slew all the first 
born of Egypt after he had -plagued them exceedingly. 
Pharaoh commanded them to depart; but he pursued them 
to the Red Sea. Israel fainted at the sight before and be- 
hind them. Moses said, Stand still and see the salvation 
of God. The sea was divided. Covered with a cloud, 
Israel marched through as on dry ground. The waters 
stood on either side as a wall. Pharaoh pursued with his 
chariots and horsemen, but the waters returned and they 
were drowned. Thus the Lord redeemed, saved, delivered, 
and brought Israel out of bondage. 

After this deliverance, Moses and the children of Israel 
sang, "The Lord is become my salvation; he is my God. 
Thou hast overthrown them that rose up against thee. Thou 
hast led forth thy people whom thou hast redeemed. Thou 
hast guided them in thy strength to thy holy habitation. 
The inhabitants of Canaan shall be still as a stone till thy 
people pass over, O Lord, the people thou hast purchased. 
Thou shalt plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance; 
in the sanctuary which thy hands have established.^ 

They came into the wilderness of Sin. They cried for 
bread, and God rained bread from heaven upon them, that 
he might prove them whether or not they would walk in his 
law. and they did eat manna forty years till they came to 
the borders of Caanan. 

They complained for water, and tempted God. And 
Moses smote the rock in Horeb, and water gushed out. But 
Moses was wroth, and smote the rock twice, and he and 
Aaron thus rebelled against God, and fell in the wilderness. 
The Lord made a covenant with the whole nation at Sinai, 
and made them a peculiar treasure above all people— a 
kingdom of priests, a holy nation; and God spake all the 
words of the law, written on two tables of stone; and spake 
to Israel from heaven. 

The Lord, by Moses, gave them directions for rearing a 
tabernacle, and a pattern for all its furniture. And as a 
ransom for his soul, every man, rich and poor, was to pay 
half a shekel as an offering to the Lord to make an atone- 
ment for his soul; and it was given for the service of the 
tabernacle. When the tabernacle was reared and finished, 
the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle and the cloud 
covered it. And when the cloud was taken up they jour 
neyed; but until it was taken up they journeyed not. The 

13* 



150 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

cloud was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was on it 
by night, in the sight of all Israel throughout all their jour- 
neys. 

And before Moses died he laid his hands upon Joshua, 
and gave him a charge as the Loi % d commanded; and thus 
put honor upon him, that the children of Israel might be 
obedient to him as their saviour. "As I was with Moses, so 
will I be with thee" saith God; "1 will not fail thee nor for- 
sake thee.' 1 

Could we thus proceed with the history of this people^ 
and add to their history the observance of their religious 
institutions, we should find out the true meaning of the sa- 
cred style of the New Testament with more accuracy and 
certainty, than from ail the commentators of ancient and 
modern times. This, as a sample, must suffice for our pre- 
sent purpose. 

From the premises now before us, the specifications of 
the outlines of the Sinaitic and national institution, and the 
terms and phrases found in the history of this people, we 
may discover in what relation they stood to God, and what 
favors he bestowed upon them in that relation. 

They were the called and chosen, or the elect of God as 
a nation. As such, they were delivered, saved, bought, or 
purchased, and redeemed. God is said to have created, 
made, formed, and begotten them. As such, he is called 
their Father, their God, their Redeemer, their King, their 
Saviour, their Salvation; and they arc called his children, 
sons and daughters; born to him, his house, people, inheri- 
tance, family, servants. 

As a chartered and congregated people, they are called 
the city, the holy city, the city of the Lord, Jerusalem, Zioru 
Mount Zion, the city of David. Other nations in contrast 
with them, are called, riGi a people, aliens, strangers, ene- 
mies, far off, unclean. 

Various similitudes expressive of the kind relation in 
which they stood to God, are also found on the pages of the 
ancient institution — such as husband and wife, shepherd 
and flock, vine and vineyard* mother and children. They 
are said to be written or enrolled in the book of God; to be 
planted, washed, sanctified, clean, separated to God; they 
are called the house, building, sanctuary, dwelling place of 
God ; a kingdom of priests, a holy nation, a peculiar people, 
saints, Sfc. 

Those who are curious to trace these phrases descriptive 



THE CHRISTIAN BYSTEM« 151 

of the relation and privileges of this ancient kingdom of 
God, had better (in addition to the passages quoted in their 
history from Egypt to the Jordan,) examine the following 
passages: — Exodus xiv. 30. xv. 1(>. xix. 6. Deuteronomy 
iv. 37. vii. 6. x. 15. viv. 1. i. 3,1. vii. 5- xxxii. 6, IS, 19. 
xviii. 7. iii. 18, 20. xii. 9. 1 Kings iii. 8. Psalms cv. 8. 
xxxiii. 13. cv. 43. cvi. 5, 21. lxxiv. 2. cxlix. 2. Isaiah xli. 
8, 9. xliii. 1, 3, 5, 7. li. 2, 4. xli. 1, 6, 7. xxxiii. Jeremiah, 
Ezekiel, and the Psalms of David throughout. &c. 

Unless we should write a full treatise on these antecedent 
institutions., we cannot with propriety descend farther into 
details. The outlines as far as subordinate to the theme of 
this essay, are now before the reader; and with this prepa- 
ration we shall now invite his attention to the kingdom of 

HEAVED. 

And why, an American would say, is it not called the Re- 
public of Heaven, and the Chief called the President of a 
Celestial Republic? Certainly there were the Republics 
of Greece and Rome before the doctrine of this Kingdom 
was first promulged, and the Gentiles as well as the Jews 
could have understood the figure of a Republic as well as 
that of a Kingdom. It was not, then, because there was 
not in society a model or type of this sort; but because 
such a type would have been inapposite to the nature of 
this institution. 

History testifies that Republics are better adapted to 
peace than war, and that they are forced and unnatural or- 
ganizations of society. Aristocracies and Republics owe 
all ther attractions to the excessive corruptions of the go- 
vernments under which they have originated. Thej are 
the reaction of force and fraud, of cruelty and oppression, 
and are sustained by the remembrance and apprehension 
of the evils which occasioned them. They have always 
been extolled and admired either in contrast with the vices 
and enormities of degenerate and profligate monarchies, or 
in the freshness of the recollections of the wrongs and out- 
rages which occasioned them; and men have generally 
tired of them when they became corrupt and forgetful of 
the oppressions and crimes which forced them into being. 
So that the corruptions of monarchies have given birth to 
Republics, and the corruptions of these have originated 
monarchies again. 

In these last days of degeneracy, Republics are great 
blessings to mankind, as good physicians are blessings in 



152 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

times of pestilence; but yet it must be confessed that it 
would be a greater blessing to be without plagues and doc- 
tors. While men are, however, so degenerate, and while 
selfishness and injustice are so rampant in society, republi- 
can officers are better than kings — because we can get rid 
of them sooner. They are, indeed, kings under another 
name, with a short-leased authority; and our experience 
fully demonstrates that in these degenerate days the reigns 
of our republican kings are nearly long enough. Till the 
King of kings comes, we Christians ought to be good re- 
publicans, under the conviction that human governments 
seldom grow better, and that the popular doctrine of our 
country is true — that political authority generally makes a 
man worse, and public favors almost invariably corrupt the 
heart. Rapid rotation in office is the practical influence 
of the republican theory; and the experiment proves that, 
brief as republican authority is, it is sometimes too long for 
republican virture to sustain without deterioration. Now if 
this be true of republican virtue, the brightest and the best, 
what earthly virtue can long resist the contamination of long 
protracted authority! 

Monarchy is the only form of government, however, 
which nature recognizes. It was the first, and it will be 
the last. A government with three or thirty heads is a 
monster; and therefore the beast that represents it comes 
out of the sea with a plurality of horns as well as heads. 

The most approved theory of human nature and of hu- 
man government now current wherever the English lan- 
guage is spoken, either in the Old World, or in the New, is 
that a monarchy would be always the best government, be- 
cause the cheapest, the most efficient, and the most digni- 
fied; provided only, that the crown was always placed on 
the wisest head and the sceptre wielded by the purest 
hands. Could we always secure this we would all be mo- 
narchists: because we cannot, we are all republicans. 

But after this apology for the phrase Kingdom of Heaven, 
we would recall the attention of the reader to the conces- 
sion, made by republicans themselves, that a kingdom is 
better adapted to a state of war, than a republic; and that 
this beautiful, though most appropriate figure, which occurs 
in the New Testament more than one hundred and fifty 
times, and very often in the Old, presupposes a state of war 
as existing in the universe. But for the reasons assigned 
in preference of monarchy, the natural government of the 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 



153 



universe always was, is, and evermore shall be monarchy. 
God himself is of necessity absolute monarch of the uni- 
verse. Had he not essentially sustained that relation to all 
his creatures, there never could have been rebellion nor sin 
in his dominions. The systems of nature are all after this 
model. Every sun is a king over the system which it con- 
trols; and in every sphere there is one controlling and su- 
preme principle. It will be the last government; for when 
the episode in the great drama of rational existence which 
sin occasioned, shall have been completed, the government 
of the universe will assume its ancient order, and God be 
supreme monarch again. But this will not be till Jesus 
gives up the kingdom to God, which a preternatural state 
of things put into his hands. This cannot be till he has 
subdued man to his rightful allegiance, or destroyed forever 
every opponent to the absolute monarchy of the Eternal 
Supreme: "for Jesus must reign till all his enemies be put 
under his feet." 

The kingdom which Jesus has received from his Father, 
however heavenly, sublime, and glorious it may be regard- 
ed, is only temporal. It had a beginning, and it will have 
an end; for he must reign only till all enemies are put un- 
der his feet. But the transition of the sceptre into the hands 
of Emanuel has not changed the government, He is now 
the hereditary Monarch of the universe, as well as the 
proper King of his own kingdom. He now reigns as ab- 
solutely over all principalities, hierarchs, and powers, ce- 
lestial and terrestrial, as did the great God and Father of 
the universe, before he was invested with the regal autho- 
rity. 

We have said it was a preternatural state of things which 
originated the kingdom of Jesus: therefore the object of 
this remedial reign is to destroy that preternatural state of 
things — to put down sin. Now as all human governments 
presuppose disorder, and as the kingdoms of this world 
generally have arisen out of confusion and war, this king- 
dom of heaven of which we are to speak owes its origin to 
the celestial and terrestrial apostacies — the revolt of Satan 
and of Adam. Were there not injustice within, or violence 
without, civil government would be wholly unnecessary, 
and its appendages an excrescence upon society. Had 
there not been such a revolt and rebellion as sacred history 
records, there would have been no such kingdom of heaven 
as that over which Jesus the Messiah now presides. Now 



154 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

as both this King and kingdom, and all thai appertains to 
them, were occasioned by such a preternatural state of 
things, we must view thern in all their attributes and details, 
with reference to those circumstances which called them 
into being. 

THE ELEMENTS OF A KINGDOM. 

We must understand the type, or we cannot understand 
the antitype. We must understand that which is natural 
before we can understand that which is spiritual, What, 
then, are the essential elements of a kingdom as existing 
among men? They are five, viz: King, Constitution, Sub- 
jects, Laws, and Territory. Such are the essential parts of 
every political kingdom, perfect in its kind, now existing 
on earih. 

In forming a state, the essential elements are people and 
country. The people make a constitution, and this makes 
a President or King, citizens or subjects, and every thing 
else belonging to a state. It is, then, the relation into 
which the people resolve themselves, which makes it a re^ 
public, an aristocracy, a monarchy. Do they choose a mo- 
narchy? They first make a constitution, and this places 
one upon the throne—makes them subjects, and he gives 
them laws. Although the constitution is first, in the order 
of nature, of all the elements of a kingdom, for it makes 
one man a king and the rest subjects; yet we cannot im- 
agine a constitution in reference to a kingdom, without king 
and subjects. In speaking of them in detail, we cannot 
then speak of any one of them as existing without the 
others — we must regard them as correlates, and as coming 
into existence contemporaneously. There is no husband 
nor wife before marriage, neither can there be a husband 
without a wife; yet one of the parties must be made before 
the other. Marriage makes a husband out of the bridegroom, 
and a wife out of the bride. So the constitution makes the 
king or the governor; the citizens or subjects, out of the 
people, as the case may be: for there never can be a king 
or subject without a constitution, or, what is the same thing, 
an agreement, verbal or written, for certain privileges stipu- 
lated and conditioned. In every well regulated political 
kingdom, in the order of nature, the elements stand thus . 
1. Constitution; 2, King; 3. Subjects; 4. Laws; 5. Ter- 
ritorv. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM, 155 

la the kingdom which God set up by Moses, the elements 
stood in this order. The constitution was first proposed 
under which God condescended to be their King, and they 
were to be regarded as his people or subjects; he then gave 
them laws and established them in the territory before pro- 
mised. 

But in the kingdom of nature, or in the original kingdom 
of God, the elements are only four, and the order in which 
they stand, are: I.King; 2. Subjects; 3. Laws; 4. Terri- 
tory. As Father and Creator of that kingdom, God him- 
self was absolute Sovereign, whose will is the supreme law 
of the whole realm of nature. 

Having ascertained the essential elements of a kingdom 
and marked the order in which they stand, before we par- 
ticularly attend to these elements in order, we shall ask, 
Why this kingdom is called the Kingdom of Heaven? 

THE NAME 

Heaven, and the Kingdom of Heaven are not one and the 
same thing. God is not the Kingdom of God. But as the 
kingdom of God is something pertaining to Gad, so the 
Kingdom of Heaven is something pertaining to heaven, and 
consequently to God. Whether always the phrases, "the 
Kingdom of God" and the "Kingdom of Heaven" exactly 
represent the same thing, certain it is that both phrases are 
often applied to the same institution.* 

This is true of them, whether translated reign or king- 
dom; and it is very evident that frequently the original 
word basileia ought in preference to be rendered reign, in- 
asmuch as this term better suits all those passages where 
coming or approaching is spoken of: for while reigns or ad- 
ministrations approach and recede, kingdoms have attri- 
butes and boundaries which are stationary. Reign and 
Kingdom of God, though sometimes applicable to the same 
subject, never contemplate it in the same light. They are, 
indeed, as intimately connected as the reign of king Wil- 
liam and the kingdom of Great Britain. The former re- 
presents the administration of the kingdom, and the latter 
the state over which this administration extends. 



* If the following passages are carefully examined and compared it will ap- 
pear that both these phrases often represent the same thing: Matt. iii. 7. MarkL 
14. Lukeiv. 43.— Matt. xiii. 12. Mark iv. 11. Luke viii. 10,— Matt, xi 11. Luke vi. 
28. To these three distinct evidences many more misht be added. What Matthew 
calls "the Kingdom of Heaven" Mark and Luke call the "Kingdom of God." 



156 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

Two good reasons may be offered why Matthew, the 
oldest Christian writer, generally prefers Kingdom or Reign 
of Heaven, to the phrase Kingdom or Reign of God: I say 
generally, for he occasionally uses both designations.* He 
wrote to Jews in Judea who expected a Messiah, a King, 
and a Kingdom of God on earth, a mere improvement of the 
Jewish system, 8 and therefore to raise their conception he 
delights to call it the Reign or Kingdom of Heaven, in con- 
trast with that earthly Kingdom of God, of which they were 
so long in possession. 

He also found a good reason in the idiom of the Jewish 
prophets for using the word Heaven (boui in the singular 
and plural form) for God. Daniel told the Assyrian mo- 
narch that his kingdom would be sure to him when he 
should have learned that "the Heavens do rule ;" yet in 
the preceding verse he says, "Till thou knowest that the 
Most High rules in the kingdom of men" — thus using 
Heavens and the Most High as synonymous. The Psalm- 
ist says, "The wicked set their mouths against the Heavens" 
The Prodigal confesses that he had "sinned against Heaven," 
and Jesus himself asked whether the baptism of John was 
"from Heaven or from men." Thus he was authorized from 
the Jewish use of the word to regard it as equivalent to 
God. Li, then, Matthew had meant no more by the phrase 
"Kingdom of Heaven," than the "Kingdom of God," he was 
justified by the Jewish use of the word heaven, to apply it 
in that sense. Some may object to all these remarks upon 
Matthews' manner, that it was Jesus Christ and the preach- 
ers he commissioned who called it the Kingdom of Heaven, 
and not Matthew Levi. To such we reply that the other 
sacred writers uniformly, in reciting all the same parables 
and incidents, use the phrase "Kingdom of God," and never 
the phrase "the Kingdom of Heaven." 

From the use of the phrase "Kingdom of God," we must, 
I think, regard him as having special reference to the rea- 
son first assigned. He does not say the Kingdom of Heaven 
shall be taken from the Jews; but "The Kingdom of God 
shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing 
forth the fruits of it:" for although it might with propriety, 
in his acceptation, be said, that the Jews already had the 
kingdom of God , it could not be said that they had the king- 
dom of Heaven as proclaimed by Matthew.f 



* See chapters vi. 33. xii. 28. xix. 24. xxi, 31, 43. f Matt. xxi. 43. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 157 

When compared with the earthly Kingdom of God among 
the Jews, it is certainly the Kingdom of Heaven; for Jesus 
alleges that his kingdom is not of this world; and Daniel 
affirmed that in the days of the last worldly empire the God 
of heaven would set up a kingdom unlike all others then 
on earth; in which, as Paul teaches, men are "blessed with 
every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ:"* for 
he has raised us Jews and Gentiles, and "has set us down 
together in the heavenly places by Christ Jesus."! 

Th re is. in the superior and heavenly privileges and 
honors bestowed upon the citizens of this kingdom, the 
best reason why it should have first been presented to the 
world under this title, rather than any other; and for the 
same reasons which influenced Matthew to usher it into 
notice in Judea, under this designation, we ought now to 
prefer it, because many of our contemporaries, like the 
ancient Jews, see as much of heaven, and glory in the veiled 
grace of the Mosaic institution, as in the unveiled grace of 
the Christian kingdom. The pertinency of this title will 
appear still more evident as we develope the constitutional 
privileges of this kingdom. 

But most evidently the Kingdom of Heaven is "the King- 
dom of Christ and of God?\ It is the Kingdom of God, 
because he set it up,|j gave the constitution and King, and 
all the materials out of which it is erected. \ It is the king- 
dom of Christ, because God the Father gave it to him as his 
Son, and as the heir of all things; and therefore, "all that 
is the Father's is mine," says Jesus, "and I am his.1T "God 
craated all things by Jesus Christ and for him." 

Having, then, noticed the reasons for the characteristic 
titles of this kingdom, and having already ascertained what 
are the elements absolutely essential to a kingdom, distin- 
guished from those merely circumstantial or accidental, we 
shall now proceed to consider in the order suggested, the 
Constitution, King, Subjects, Laws, and Territory of the 
Kingdom of Heaven. 

CONSTITUTION. 

God himself, after the gracious counsels of his own will, 
proposed and tendered the constitution of this kingdom to 
his own Son. This "glory he had with the Father before 

* Eph.i. 3. f Eph.ii. 6. J Eph. v. 5. |j Daniel ii. 44. $ Jer. xxxL 
31-34. IT John xvii. 18. 

14 



158 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

the world was." He that was "in the beginning with GocP 
— "the wisdom and power of God" — was set up [constituted] 
from everlasting, or ever the earth was. "Then was I with 
God, as one brought up with him; I was daily his delight, 
rejoicing always before him — rejoicing in the habitable 
parts of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of 
men." Therefore, he who was to be "ruler in Israel" was 
with God in counsel "in the beginning of all his ways;" for 
"his goings forth were from old, even from the day of eter- 
nity."! 

It was to do the will, or fulfil the items in this con- 
stitution, that "the word was made flesh and dwelt among 
us." I came to do the will of him that sent me, and to 
finish "the work given me to do." "I have power to lay 
down my life, and 1 have power to resume it; this com- 
mandment i received from my Father." The Father "com- 
missioned and sent him forth into the world." He "came 
down from heaven." "Thou hast given me power over all 
flesh, that I might give eternal life to all that thou hast given 
me." 

These, and many other passages, which the reader will 
easily remember, unequivocally evince that an understand- 
ing and agreement existed ere time began between God 
and the Word of God — or, as now revealed, between the 
Father and the Son, respecting the kingdom. In conse- 
quence of which, "the Word was made flesh and dwelt 
among us" — in consequence of which "he divested himself" 
of his antecedent giory — "took upon him the form of a bond- 
servant" — "was made in the likeness of sinful flesh" — "took 
part with us in flesh and blood." In consequence of which 
agreement, and the promised glory, for "the joy set before 
him in the promise," of "seeing his seed the travail of his 
soul, and being satisfied," he endured the cross, despising 
the shame," and was made perfect through sufferings to 
lead many sons to glory." 

To the stipulations concerning eternal life, propounded in 
the constitution of the Kingdom of Heaven, frequent allu- 
sions are made in the Apostles' writings. Thus the be- 
lievers were "elected in him before the foundation of the 
world," and "eternal life was promised before the times of 
the ages," "according to the benevolent purposes which he 
proposed in himself for the administration of the fulness of 

* Prov.viii. 23-31. t Micahv.21. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 159 

the appointed times, to gather together all under Christ — 
all in the heavens and all on the earth, under him." He 
formerly marked us out for an adoption through Jesus Christ 
to himself, according to his purpose, who effectually works 
all things according to the counsel of his will.* 

From all these sayings and allusions, we must trace the 
constitution of this kingdom into eternity — before time be- 
gan. We must date it from everlasting, and resolve it 
into the aabsolute gracious will of the eternal God. In re- 
ference to all the prospective developments of time, "known 
to God from the beginning," it proposed to make the word 
flesh, and then to make the Incarnate Word, called Emanuel, 
or Jesus Christ, the King, to give him all who should be re- 
conciled to God by him for subjects, to put under him all 
the angelic hosts, and constitute him monarch of earth, law- 
giver to the universe; and thus make him heir and Lord of 
all things. 

As a constitution brings all the elements of a kingdom 
into a new relation to one another, so it is the measure and 
guarantee of all the privileges, immunities, and obligations 
accruing to all the parties in that relation. It prescribes, 
arranges, and secures all the privileges, duties, obligations, 
honors, and emoluments of the King and the subjects. 
Neither of them can claim more than it stipulates and gua- 
ranties, and neither of them can rightfully be deprived of 
any of them. 

From the premises now before us, and the light given to 
us in these scriptures and those in the margin, we learn — 

First. That God is the author of the constitution of the 
Kingdom of Heaven; that he propounded it to the word that 
was made flesh, before the world was, in prospect of all the 
developments of creation. 

Second. That the word accepted, it because the will of 
God was always his delight; therefore he said, "I come to 
do thy will, O God! 11 Hence "God has so loved the world 
as to give his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes 
on him may not perish, but obtain eternal life." 

Third. That in consequence "all authority in heaven 
and earth" was given to Jesus Christ, and all orders of in- 
telligence subjected to him, that he might be King over all, 
and have the power of giving eternal life to his people.j 

Fourth. That the earth is now the Lord's, the present 



* Eph. i. 3-12. f Matt, xxvii. ib. ii. 44. vii. 27. 



160 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

temporal territory of his kingdom; that the heathen people 
are given to him for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts 
of the earth for his possession; that all ends of the earth 
are his, and all dominions, kindreds, tribes, tongues, and 
people, shall yet serve him on earth and glorify him in 
heaven.* 

Fifth. That all that he redeems are his seed — his sub- 
jects: that he will have their faith, confidence, esteem, ad- 
miration, and gratitude forever; that he will be worshipped,, 
honored, and revered by them in a world without end: that 
God, angels, and saints, will delight in him for ever and 
ever.| He has, therefore, to raise the dead, judge the 
world, and to present the redeemed pure, holy, happy, and 
triumphant before his Father, and then to give up his king- 
dom to God . 

To comprehend in any adequate idea, the constitution 
of this kingdom, we must learn more than its history, or the 
way in which it was introduced and propounded. We must 
regard all the elements of the kingdom as constitutional 
elements— the King as a constitutional King; the subjects, 
laws, and territory, including the ultimate inheritance, as 
constitutional subjects, laws, territory, inheritance; and ? 
therefore, we shall speak of them in detail. 

THE KING. 

The Lord Jesus Christ is the constitutional monarch of 
the Kingdom of Heaven. The privileges guarantied to him 
in reference to the kingdom are as follows: 

As King, he is to be the oracle of God — to have the dis- 
posal of the Holy Spirit— to be Prophet and High Priest 
of the Temple of God— to have the throne of his Father — to 
be Governor of all nations on earth, and head of all hier- 
archs and powers in heaven — the supreme Lawgiver, the 
only Saviour — the resurrcetion and the life, the ultimate 
and final Judge of all, and the Heir of all things. 

These honors, privileges, and powers, are secured to him 
by the irrevocable grant of the God and Father of all; 
therefore, as said Isaiah, "The Lord cometh with a strong 
hand, and his arm shall rule for him. Behold his reward 
is with him, and his work before him."" "I have set my 



* Psalms ii. 6-8. Ixxii. 2-18. Daniel, f Rev. v. 9-14. xiv. 1-5. xvi. 3,4. xx 
9-27. Eph.i. 20,21. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 161 

King upon my holy hill of Zion." "Ask of me and I will 
give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the utter- 
most parts of the earth for thy possession." "I have made 
him a leader and commander of the people" — "a light to the 
Gentiles" — "salvation to the ends of the earth," — "a Priest 
forever after the order of Melchisedeek." "Sit thou at my 
right hand till I make thy foes thy footstool." "The govern- 
ment shall be upon his shoulders." "All things are deliver- 
ed to rne of my Father." "He is Lord of the dead and liv- 
ing." "Angels, authorities, and powers are subjected to 
him." "The Father gave the Spirit without measure to 
him," "He received of the Father the promise of the Holy 
Spirit." "The kingdom is the Lord's, and he is the governor 
among the nations." He shall have dominion from sea 
to sea, and from the Euphrates to the ends of the earth." 
"They shall fear thee as long as sun and moon endure to all 
generations." "The Father has committed all judgment to 
the Son." 

But, not to weary the reader with quotations and proofs, 
we shall give but another: — "Behold my servant, whom I 
uphold; my elect, in whom my soul delights. 1 have put 
my Spirit upon him. He shall bring forth judgment unto 
truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged till he have 
set judgment in the earth; and the isles shall wait for his 
law." — "I, the Lord, have called thee in righteousness, and 
will hold thy hand and keep thee, and give thee for a cove- 
nant [a constitution] of the people, for a light to the Gen- 
tiles — to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from 
the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison 
bouse."* 

THE SUBJECTS OF THE KINGDOM. 

They are all born again. Their privileges and honors 
are the following: 

First. Their constitutional King is the only begotten 
Son of God; whose title and honors are — Image of the in- 
visible God — Effulgence of the Father's glory — Emanuel — 
Upholder of the universe— Prophet of the Prophets— High 
Priest of the temple of God — King of kings — Lord of 
lords — the only Potentate— -Commander and Covenant of 
the people— Captain of Salvation — Counsellor, Lawgiver, 

* Isa. xMl: 1-7. 

14* 



162 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

Redeemer, Deliverer, Mediator, Saviour, Advocate, Judge. 
He is Sun of Righteousness, Prince of Peace, Lamb of 
God, Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root and Offspring of 
David, the Bright and Morning Star, Light of the World, 
the Faithful and True Witness, Bishop of Souls, Great 
Shepherd of the Sheep, Head of the Church, Lord of all, 
Heir of the Universe, the Resurrection and the Life, the 
Son of Man, the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and 
the end, the Amen, &c, &c. Such is the Christian's 
King, whose assistance in all these characters, offices, and 
relations as exhibited, under all these figures, is guaran- 
tied to him in the Constitution, indeed it is all expressed 
in one promise — "I will be your God, and you shall be my 
people" 

Second. It is guarantied that "their sins and iniquities are 
to be remembered no more." "There is no condemnation 
to them who are under Christ." "Sin shall not have do^ 
minion, nor lord it over them." The Lord imputeth to 
them no sin. They are all pardoned, justified, and saved 
from sin. 

Third. They are adopted into the family of God; made 
sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty, children of God ? 
and heirs — -joint heirs with Christ. They have an Advo- 
cate in the heavens, through whom their persons and pray- 
ers are accepted. 

Fourth. They all know the Lord. "All thy children 
shall be taught of God." The Holy Spirit of God writes 
the law of God upon their hearts, and inscribes it upon their 
understanding: so that they need not teach every one his 
fellow citizen to know the Lord, "for they all know him 
from the least to the greatest." They are sanctified through 
the truth — separated and consecrated to God. 

Fifth. They have the promise of a resurrection from 
the dead, and eternal life; an inheritance incorruptible, un- 
dented, and unfading — new heavens and a new earth, in 
which righteousness alone shall dwell forever. 

Such are the constitutional rights and privileges of the 
citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven. And these have ob- 
tained for them the following titles and honors: — Kingdom 
of Heaven; Israel of God; chosen generation; body of 
Christ; children of God; habitation of God; family of 
God; Jerusalem from above; Mount Zion; peculiar people; 
the elect of God; holy nation; temple of the Holy Spirit; 
house of God; city of the living God; pillar and ground of 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 163 

the truth; living stones; seed of Abraham; citizens of 
heaven; lights of the world; salt of the earth; heirs of 
God; joint heirs with Christ, &c. 

The privileges, honors, and emoluments belong to every 
citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven. Indeed, they are all 
comprehended in the summary which Paul (from Jeremiah) 
lays before the believing Hebrews: — "This is the constitu- 
tion which I will make with the house of Israel after those 
days: I will put my laws into their mind, and inscribe them 
upon their hearts; and I will be to them a God, and they 
shall be to me a people. And they shall not teach every 
man his fellow citizen, and every man his brother, saying, 
Know the Lord ; for all shall know me, from the least of 
them to the greatest of them; because 1 will be merciful to 
iheir unrighteousness, and their sins and iniquities 1 will 
remember no more."* To this summary the reader may 
add those scriptures in the margin, as confirmatory of the 
above | 

THE LAWS OF THE KINGDOM. 

The supreme law of this kingdom is love — love of the 
King and love of each other. From this law all its reli- 
gious homage and morality flow. Precepts and examples 
innumerable present this to the mind of all the citizens. 
The Kingdom of Heaven is divided into small societies, 
called churches, or congregations of the Lord. Each of 
these communities in the reception of members, in the edu- 
cation and discipline of them, or in excluding them when 
necessary, is to be governed by the apostolic instructions: 
for to the Apostles the Saviour committed the management 
of his kingdom. After they had made citizens by preach- 
ing the gospel and baptizing, they were commanded to teach 
them to observe whatsoever the Saviour had commanded 
them. 

These laws and usages of the Apostles must be learned 
from what the Apostles published to the world, after the as- 
cension and coronation of the King, as they are recorded 
in the Acts of the Apostles and Epistles: for we shall see 
in the sequel that the gospel was fully developed, and the 



* Hebrews viil. 10-13, | Som. vi. 5, 6, 14. viii. 1, 33-39. 1 Cor. vi. 11. 
Eph,i, 7, ii, 6,19,21,22, Col. i, 13, 14, 1 Peter ii, 5-7. SPeter i, 10, 11, I John 
ii, 2. 



164 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

whole doctrine of the Reign of Christ began to be proclaim- 
ed in Jerusalem on the first Pentecost after the ascension. 

The old or Jewish constitution was promulged first on 
Sinai on the first Pentecost after the redemption of Israel 
from Egyptian bondage; and from that day, and what is 
written after it in Exodus and Leviticus, Numbers and Deu- 
teronomy, all the laws, manners, and customs authorized 
by the national constitution are to be found. They are not 
to be sought after in Genesis, nor in the antecedent econo- 
my. Neither are the statutes and laws of the Christian 
kingdom to be sought for in the Jewish scriptures, nor an- 
tecedent to the day of Pentecost; except so far as our Lord 
himself, during his life time, propounded the doctrine of his 
reign. But of this when we ascertain the commencement of 
this kingdom. 

There is one universal law of naturalization, or for ma- 
king citizens out of all nations, enjoined upon those citizens 
of the kingdom who are engaged in the work of proseiytism; 
but the laws of this kingdom, like the laws of every other 
kingdom, are obligatory only on the citizens. 

The weekly celebration of the death and resurrection of 
Jesus, and the weekly meeting of the disciples of Christ 
for this purpose, and for the edification of one another in 
their roost holy faith, are the only positive statutes of the 
kingdom; and, therefore, there is no law, statute, or obser- 
vance in this kingdom, that in the least retards its extension 
from East to West, from North to South, or that can prevent. 
its progress in ail nations of the world. 

It is, however, worthy of observation, that every part of 
the Christian worship in the small communities spread over 
the territory of the Kingdom of Heaven, like so many can- 
dlesticks in a large edifice, are designed to enlighten and 
convert the world; and, therefore, in all the meetings of 
the family of God, they are to keep this supremely in view; 
and to regard themselves as the "pillar and ground of the 
truth." 

Concerning the details of the laws of the kingdom, we 
cannot now speak particularly. "The favor of God which 
brings salvation, teaches all the citizens of heaven, that, 
denying ail ungodliness and worldly lusts, they should live 
soberly, righteously and godly, in this present world, ex- 
pecting the blessed hope — namely, the appearing of the 
glory of the great God, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ, 
who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 165 

iniquity, and purify to himself a peculiar people, zealous 
of good works." These things the Bishops of every com- 
munity should teach and enforce; for such is the spirit, and 
such is the object of all the laws and statutes of the King- 
dom of Heaven. 

THE TERRITORY. 



In all other kingdoms, except the Kingdom of Heaven, 
the territory is the national domain and inheritance, it 
was so in the first Kingdom of God under the constitution 
from Sinai. But in the typical kingdom they lived at a 
distance from their inheritance for one generation. During 
these forty years, in which they pitched their tents in the 
wilderness, God was their inheritance. He rained bread 
from heaven upon them, and sent them flesh upon the east 
wind. He made the flinty rock Horeb a living spring, 
whose stream followed them all the way to Jordan. He re- 
newed their garments every day, so that for forty years 
they grew not old, nor needed a single patch. A pillar of 
fire by night and a cloud by day guided them towards Ca- 
naan, the land of their inheritance. 

The whole earth is the present territory of the Kingdom 
of Heaven, but the new heavens and earth are to be its in- 
heritance. The earth, indeed, is the Lord's and the fulness 
thereof; but the children of God and the children of the 
wicked one — the wheat and the darnel, are both planted in 
it, and must grow together till the harvest. The righteous 
have their bread and water guarantied to them while they 
live; for "godliness is profitable to all things, having pro- 
mise of the life that now is, as well as of that which is to 
come." But the joint heirs of Christ are never taught to 
regard the earth as their inheritance. They may indeed, 
say, though poor and pennyless, "All things are ours; 
whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, 
or death, or things present, or things to come — all are ours, 
and we are Christ's, and Christ is God's." But, like the 
Jews on their journey to Canaan, "they seek a better coun- 
try" — "they seek a city yet to come." "My kingdom," says 
Jesus, "is not of this world." And, therefore, in the world, 
Christians are strangers and pilgrims, and may expect tri- 
bulation. 

The earth is the present theatre of war.; therefore all 
Christians in the territory are soldiers. Their expenses, 



166 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM* 

their rations are allowed, the arms and munitions of war 
are supplied them from the magazines in Mount Zion, the 
strong hold and fortress of the kingdom; where the King, 
the heads of departments, and all the legions of angels are 
resident. So that on entering the Army of the Faith every 
soldier is panoplied with the armor of God; and when in- 
ducted into the heavenly tactics under the Captain of Sal- 
vation, he is expected to be a good soldier of Jesus Christ, 
and to fight the good fight of faith courageously and victo- 
riously. 

The Kingdom of Heaven on this territory is greatly op- 
posed by the kingdom of Satan, which ever seeks to make 
an inheritance out of the territory of the militant kingdom 
of righteousness; and, therefore, the citizens have not to 
wrestle with flesh and blood, but with the rulers of the 
darkness of this world — with spiritual wickedness in high 
places. 

Ever since the commencement of this kingdom, the go- 
vernments of this world have either been directly opposed 
to it, or at best, pretended friends; and therefore their in- 
fluence has always been opposed to the true Spirit and ge- 
nius of the Christian institution. Christians have nothing 
to expect from them except liberty of conscience and pro- 
tection from violence, while leading peaceable and quiet 
lives, in all godliness and honesty, till Jesus take to himself 
his great power, and hurl all these potentates from their 
thrones, and make his cause triumphant — a consummation 
devoutly to be wished, and which cannot now be regarded 
as far distant. 

MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 

Touching the manners and customs of the Kingdom of 
Heaven, they are such as generally obtained in the land of 
Judea and in the East at the time of its erection : or, rather, 
they are the simple manners and customs of the family 
worship age of the world. These are consecrated by sim- 
ply performing them with a regard to Jesus Christ, or from 
the motives prompted by the doctrine of the Reign of Hea- 
ven. As we treat our natural brothers and sisters in public 
and in private — as we address, salute, and converse with 
them — as we transact all family business, and conduct the 
affairs of the household — so are Christians to treat one an- 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 167 

other. There is no other virtue or utility in these, than as 
they cherish brotherly kindness and love, and are regarded 
to the Lord. 

INDUCTION INTO THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. 

Into every kingdom, human or divine, there is a legal 
door of admission. This is, in the statute book of Heaven, 
called a birth. Into the kingdom of nature we are born. 
Into the future and ultimate kingdom of glory we enter, 
soul and body, by being born from the grave. As Christ, 
the first born from the dead, entered the heavenly kingdom, 
so must all his brethren. And as to this kingdom of which 
we speak, as now existing in this world, Jesus himself 
taught that into it no person can legally enter who is not 
born again or "born of water and the Spirit."* The ana- 
logy is complete between the kingdoms of nature — of grace 
— and of glory. Hence we have natural birth, metaphori- 
cal or spiritual birth, and supernatural birth. There is a 
being born of the flesh— -born of the Spirit — born of the 
grave; and there is a kingdom for the flesh — a kingdom for 
the Spirit — and a kingdom for the glorified man. 

This second, or new birth, which inducts into the King- 
dom of God, is always subsequent to a death and burial, as 
it will be into the everlasting kingdom of glory. It is in- 
deed, a literal death and burial before a literal resurrection, 
into the heavenly and eternal kingdom. It is also a meta- 
phorical or figurative death and burial, before the figurative 
resurrection or new birth into the Kingdom of Heaven. 
Water is the element in which this burial and resurrection 
is performed, according to the constitutional laws of the 
Kingdom of Heaven. Hence Jesus connects the water and 
the Spirit when speaking of entering this Kingdom of God. 

In naturalizing aliens, the commandment of the King is 
first — submit to them the Constitution, or preach to them 
the gospel of the kingdom. Soon as they understand and 
believe this, and are desirous of being translated into the 
Kingdom of Christ and of God, that "they may receive the 
remission of sins and inheritance among all that are sancti- 
fied," they are to be buried in water into the name of the 
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and raised out of it confessing 
their death to sin, their faith in Christ's sacrifice and resur- 



* John ill. 5. Titus iii. 5. 



168 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

rection: and thus they are born of water and the Spirit, and 
constituted citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven. To as 
many as thus receive him he gives 'privilege to become the 
children of God; for they are "born of God" — born of God, 
when born of water and the Spirit, because this is the in- 
stitution of God. 

In these days of apostacy men have sought out many in- 
ventions. Some have attempted to get into the Kingdom of 
Heaven without being born at all. Others imagine that 
they can be born of the Spirit, without water, and that the 
King is as well pleased with them who have been born 
without a mother, as those who are lawfully born of father 
and mother. Others think that neither Spirit nor water is 
necessary; but if they are politically born of the flesh, 
they can enter the kingdom as rightfully as the Jewish cir- 
cumcised infants enter the earthly kingdom of Israel. But 
as we have no faith in any modern improvements of the 
gospel, change or amendment of the constitution of the 
Kingdom of Heaven, we must leave them to account to the 
King himself, who "have transgressed the law, changed the 
ordinance, and broken the everlasting covenant;"* and pro- 
ceed to the question, 

THE COMING OF THE KINGDOM. 

When did the Kingdom of Heaven commence? "With 
the ministry of John," says one: "With the ministry of 
Jesus," says another: "With the first sending out of the 
Twelve Apostle?," says a third: "At the resurrection of 
Jesus," says a fourth: "At none of them; but by degrees 
from the baptism of John till the fall of Jerusalem," says a 
fifth. 

The reader will please remember that there are at least 
Jive elements essential to a perfectly organized kingdom, and 
that it may be contemplated in reference to one or more of 
these component parts. Hence the numerous and various 
parables of the Saviour. Sometimes he speaks of the ad- 
ministration of its affairs — of its principles in the heart — 
of its subject — of its King — of its territory—of its pro- 
gress — of various incidents in its history. Hence the pa- 
rable of the sower — of the wheat and darnel — of the leaven 
—of the merchant seeking goodly pearls — of the grain of 

* Isaiah xxiv. 5. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM* 169 

mustard seed — of the sweep net — of the marriage of a 
king's son — ot a nobleman going into a far country — of 
the ten virgins — of the talents — of the sheep and goats, 
present to our view the Kingdom of Heaven in different at- 
titudes, either in its elements or in its history — its com- 
mencement or its close. 

The approaching or the coming of the Reign of Heaven, 
can properly have respect only to one or two of the elements 
of a kingdom; or to the formal exhibition of that whole or- 
ganization of society which we call a kingdom. It can 
have no proper allusion to its territory; for that was cre- 
ated and located before man was created. It cannot allude 
either to the persons who were constituted subjects, for they 
too were in existence before the kingdom commenced. It 
cannot allude to the birth or baptism of the King, for it 
was not till after these that Jesus began to proclaim its 
coming or approach. It cannot have reference to the min- 
istry of John or of Jesus, any more than to the patriarchal 
or Jewish dispensations; because Jesus did not begin to 
proclaim the coming of this reign till after John was cast 
into prison. This is a fact of so much importance, that 
Matthew, Mark, and Luke, distinctly and substantially 
declare, that in conformity to ancient predictions, Jesus 
was to begin to proclaim in Galilee, and that he did not 
commence to proclaim the doctrine or the gospel of the com- 
ing °f the Reign, till after Johtfs ministry ceased and he 
was cast into prison. In this assertion the Evangelists 
agree: "Now Jesus [after his baptism and temptation in 
the wilderness] hearing that John was imprisoned, retired 
into Galilee; and having left Nazareth, resided at Caper- 
naum. For thus saith the Prophet," &c. From that time 
Jesus began to proclaim, saying, "Reform for the Reign of 
Heaven approaches;" or, "The Kingdom of Heaven is at 
hand," as says the common version.* 

Some Baptists, for the sake of immersion, and some of 
our brethren in the Reformation, for the sake of immersion 
for the remission of sins, seem desirous to have John in the 
Kingdom of Heaven, and to date the commencement of the 
Christian dispensation with the first appearance of John 
the Immerser. They alledge in support of this hypothesis 
that Jesus said, "The Law and the Prophets continued till 
John," (the only instructors of men;) "since that time the 

* Matt. iv. 12, Mark i 14. Luke iii. 30. iv. 14. 

15 



170 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

Kingdom of God is preached, and every man presses into 
it." "Publicans and harlots show you the way into the 
Kingdom of Heaven," said Jesus to the Pharisees. Again, 
"Alas! for you Scribes and Pharisees! for you shut the 
Kingdom of Heaven against men, and will neither enter 
yourselves, nor permit others that would, to enter." "The 
Kingdom of God is within you." "The Kingdom of Hea- 
ven has overtaken you." From these premises they infer 
that the Kingdom of Heaven was actually set up by John 
the Baptist: "For," say they, "how could men and women 
enter into a kingdom which was not set np? And did not 
John immerse for the remission of sins, and call upon men 
to repent and reform in order to baptism?" 

The Paidobaptists, too, will have Abraham, Isaac, and 
Jacob, Moses, David, and all the circumcised Jews in the 
Kingdom of Heaven, because Jesus said, "Before Abraham 
was, Jam;" "Abraham saw my day. and was glad;" and 
Paul says Moses esteemed the reproach of Christ greater 
riches than all the treasures of Egypt, and forsook Egypt in 
faith of the Christian recompense of reward. Yes, and Paul 
affirms that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their families, who 
dwelt in tents in the promised land, looked not only to the 
rest in Canaan, but they sought a heavenly country, and 
expected the city of foundations, whose builder and maker 
is God. Thus the Jews had Christ in the manna and in 
the rock, and baptism in the cloud and in the sea. 

The mistake is specifically the same. Christ was pro- 
mised and prefigured before he came, and the Kingdom of 
Heaven was promised and preached by John, by Jesus, the 
Twelve and the Seventy, (who went about proclaiming the 
glad tidings of the Reign) before the Reign of Christ, or 
Kingdom of Heaven, commenced. Because Christ was 
promised and prefigured in the patriarchal and Jewish ages, 
the Paidobaptists will have the Kingdom of Heaven on 
earth since the days of Abel; and because the glad tidings 
of the Reign and Kingdom of Heaven and the principles 
of the new and heavenly order of society were promulged 
by John, the Baptists will have John the Baptist in the King- 
dom of Heaven, and the very person who set it up. 

Let us, then, examine this matter with all candor: and 
first, we shall place the passages above quoted out of the 
testimonies of the Evangelists on one side, and the following 
passages on the other side; and then see if we can recon- 
cile them. John says, "Reform, for the Reign of God ap- 



PHE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 171 

preaches." Jesus began to proclaim, saying "Reform, for 
the Reign or Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." He also 
commanded the Twelve and the Seventy to preregrinate all 
Judea, making the same proclamation.* Of John the Bap- 
tist he said, though greater than all the Prophets, "The least 
in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he." 

Thus after John was beheaded, we have some eighty-four 
preachers daily proclaiming the nigh approach of the Reign 
of God; and Jesus often assuring his disciples that the 
Kingdom of God was soon to appear, and that some of his 
companions would see him enter upon his Reign before they 
died — and yet the Kingdom was set up by John! Scribes 
and Pharisees were shutting the Kingdom against men, 
when Jesus had only given the keys to Peter! John the 
Baptist was in the kingdom, and the least in the kingdom is 
greater than he! More than eighty preachers say, "Reform, 
for the Reign of Heaven is at hand;" and John the Baptist 
before he died, introduced all Judea and Jerusalem into it! 
How then, shall we reconcile these apparent contradic- 
tions? Make both sides figurative, and it may be done. 
Regard both sides literally, and it cannot be done! To 
say that the kingdom came in one point of view at one time, 
and in another point of view at another time, is only to say 
that it came in different senses — literally and figuratively. 
For our part we must believe that the Kingdom of Heaven 
began, or the Reign of heaven literally and truly commenced 
in one day. 

Many of its principles were developed by the ancient 
Prophets; David, Isaiah, and others wrote much concerning 
it; John the Baptist proclaimed its immediate and near ap- 
proach, and more fully developed its spiritual design; there- 
fore he was superior to them. Jesus often unfolded its cha- 
racter and design in various similitudes ; and every one who 
understood and received these principles were said to "press 
into the kingdom," or to have "the kingdom within them;" 
and wherever these principles were promulged, "the King- 
dom of Heaven" was said to "come nigh" to that people, or 
to "have overtaken them;" and those who opposed these 
principles and interposed their authority, to prevent others 
from receiving them, were said to "shut the Kingdom of 
Heaven against men;" and thus all these scriptures must of 



* Matt. x. 8. Luke i. 1-11. When eating the last supper he distinctly said that 
the Eeign of God was then future. Luke xxii 18. 



172 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

necessity be understood from the contexts in which they 
stand: for it was impossible that the Reign of Heaven could 
literally commence "tillJesus was glorified ," "received the 
promise of the Holy Spirit," was "made Lord and Christ,"* 
and "sat down with his Father upon his throne" — for he left 
this earth to receive a kingdom* 

To make this, if possible still more evident, we ask 
When did the Kingdom of God, established by Moses 
amongst the seed of Abraham, cease? This question pen- 
etrates the whole nature and necessity of the case: for will 
any one suppose that there were two Kingdoms of God on 
earth at one and the same time? Certainly the one ceased 
before the other began. 

Now that the Kingdom of God, ministered by Moses, had 
not ceased during the personal ministry of the Messiah on 
earth, is, we think, abundantly evident from the following 
facts and documents: 

First. Jesus was to have appeared and did appear, "in 
the end of the world? or last days of the first Kingdom of 
God. "In the conclusion of the age has he appeared to put 
away sin by the sacrifice of himself." The "world to come" 
was one of the names of the gospel age. He has not sub- 
jected "the world to come" to the angels, as he did the world 
past, says Paul to the Hebrews. He appeared, then, not in 
the beginning of the gospel age, but in the end of the Jewish 
age. 

Second. The Temple was the house of God to the very 
close of the life of Jesus. For it was not till the Jewish 
ministry conspired to kill him that he deserted it. At the 
last festival of his life, and immediately before he fell into 
their hands, on walking out of the Temple, he said, "Behold 
your house is deserted, for you shall not see me henceforth 
till you shall say, Blessed be he that comes in the name of 
Lord!" It was his Father's house, the house of God till that 
moment. Then, indeed, the glory departed. 

Third. The Jewish offerings and service, as a divine 
institution, continued till the condemnation of Jesus. He 
sent the cleansed leper to the priest to make the offering 
commanded in the law. He commanded the people to hear 
the doctors of the law who sat in Moses 1 chair. He paid 
the d [drachma. He was a minister of the circumcision. 
He lived under, not after the law. He kept all its ordi- 

* Luke xix. 11-15, 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM, 173 

nances, and caused all his disciples to regard it in its prim- 
itive import and authority to the last passover. Indeed, it 
could not be disannulled, for it was not consummated till on 
the cross he said, "it is finished. " 

lourth. VVhen he visited Jerusalem the last time, and 
in the last parable pronounced to them, he told them plainly 
*'the Kingdom of God should be taken from them" and given 
to a nation who should make a better use of the honors of 
the kingdom; consequently at that time the Jews had the 
Kingdom of God. 

Fifth. It was not until his death that the veil of the 
Temple was rent; that the things "which could be shaken 
were shaken." It was then, and not till then, that he nailed 
the legal institution to the cross. Then, and not till then, 
was the middle wall of partition broken down. The last 
Sabbath he slept in the grave. From the moment of his 
death there was no life in the old Kingdom of God. The 
Temple was deserted, its veil rent, its foundation shaken, 
the city devoted, the ritual abolished, and as after death the 
judgment — the Temple, city, and nation waited for the day 
of his vengeance. 

The Kingdom of God was evidently in the Jewish insti- 
tution till Jesus died. Hence the Kingdom of Heaven came 
not while Jesus lived. In anticipation, they who believed 
the gospel of the kingdom received the Kingdom of God, 
just as in anticipation he said, "I have finished the work 
which thou gavest me to do" before he began to suffer; and 
as he said, "This cup is the new testament in my blood, 
shed for the remission of the sins of many," before it was 
shed. So while the doctrine of this reign — faith, repen- 
tance, baptism, and a new principle of sonship to Abraham 
were promulging by John, the Twelve, the Seventy, and by 
Himself, the Kingdom of Heaven was approaching; and 
those who received these principles by anticipation were 
said to enter into the kingdom, or to have the kingdom with- 
in them. 

The principles of any reign or revolution are always pro- 
mulged, debated and canvassed before a new order of things 
is set up. A party is formed upon these principles before 
strength is acquired, or a leader obtained competent to the 
commencement of a new order of things. In society, as in 
nature, we have first the blade, next the stem, and then the 
ripe corn in the ear. We call it wheat, or we call it corn, 
when we have only the promise in the blade. By such a 

15* 



174 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

figure of speech the Kingdom of God was spoken of, while 
as yet only its principles were promulging. 

When these American states were colonial subjects of 
the king of England, and long before the setting up of a 
republic, republican doctrines were promulged and de- 
bated. The believers and advocates of these doctrines 
were called republicans, while as yet there was not a re- 
public on this continent. He who dates the commencement 
of the Kingdom of Heaven from the ministry of John the 
Baptist, sympathises with him who dates the American re- 
publics from the first promulgation of the republican prin- 
ciples, or from the formation of a republcan party in the 
British colonies. But as a faithful and intelligent historian, 
in writing the history of the American republics, com- 
mences with the history of the first promulgation of these 
principles, and records the sayings and deeds of the first 
promuigers of the new doctrines; so the sacred historians 
began their history of the Kingdom of Heaven with the ap- 
pearance of John in the wilderness of Judea, preaching the 
Messiah, faith, repentance, a holy life, and raising up a new 
race of Israelites on the principle of faith rather than of 
fiesh; for this in truth was "the blade" of the Kingdom of 
Heaven. 

Having from ail these considerations seen that until the 
death of the Messiah his kingdom covld not commence; 
and having seen from the record itself that it did not com- 
menee before his resurrection, we proceed to the develop- 
ment of things after his resurrection, to ascertain the day 
on which this kingdom was set up, or the Reign of Heaven 
began. 

The writer to whom we are most indebted for an orderly 
and continued narrative of the affairs of the Kingdom of 
Heaven is the Evangelist Luke. His history begins with 
the angelic annunciations of the nativity of John and Jesus, 
and ends with the appearance of the great standard-bearer 
of the Cross in Imperial Rome, A. D. 64. That part of 
his history to which we now look as a guide, to the affairs 
of the commencement of the Reign, is the notices which 
he makes of the forty days which the Lord spent in his 
crucified body, previous to his ascension. The reader 
ought not to be told (for he ought to know) that Jesus rose 
in the same body in which he was crucified, and in the re- 
animated fleshly body did eat, drink, and converse with his 
Apostles and friends for forty days. That body was not 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 175 

changed till, like the living saints who shall be on the earth 
at his second personal coming, it was made spiritual, incor- 
ruptible and glorious at the instant of his ascension. So 
thatihe man Christ Jesus was made like to all his brethren 
in his death, burial, resurrection, transfiguration, ascension, 
and glorification ; or rather, they shall be made to resemble 
him in all these respects. 

The Apostles testify that they saw him ascend — that a 
cloud received him out of their sight — that angels descend- 
ed to inform them that he was taken up into heaven, not to 
return for a long time — that he ascended far above all the 
visible heavens, and now fills all things. Stephen, when 
dying, saw him standing on the right hand of God. 

Much attention is due to all the incidents of these forty- 
days — as much at least, as to the forty days spent by Moses 
in the Mount with God in the affairs of the preceding King- 
dom of God. For the risen Messiah makes the affairs of 
his approaching kingdom the principal topic of these forty 
days.* Towards the close of these days, and immediately 
before his ascension, he gave the commission to his Apos- 
tles concerning the setting up of this kingdom. "All au- 
thority in heaven and in earth is given tome: go there- 
fore" said he, "convert the nations," [announce the gospel 
to every creature] "immersing them into the name of the 
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching 
them to observe all the things which I have commanded 
you; and behold! J am with you always, even to the con- 
clusion of this state.f ? "But continue in the city of Jeru- 
salem until you be invested with power from on high." Thus 
according to his promise and the ancient prophecy, it was 
to "begin at Jerusalem X" 

The risen Saviour thus directs our attention to Jerusalem 
as the place, and to a period distant "not many days" as 
the time of the beginning of his reign, The great facts of 
the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, not being yet 
fully developed to his Apostles, they were not qualified to 
take any steps to the setting up of a kingdom which was to 
be founded upon Christ crucified. They needed an inter- 
preter of these facts, and a supernatural advocate of the 
pretensions of the King, before they could lay the founda- 
tion of his kingdom. 



* Artsi. 3, f Matt, xxviii. 17, 20. MarU xv. 15. Luke xxi. 47, 48. J Isaiah 
si. 3, JUicah iv.'J. 



176 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

Again, the King himself must be glorified before his au- 
thority could be established on earth • for till he received the 
promise of the Spirit from his Father, and was placed on 
his throne, the Apostles could not receive it; so that Christ's 
ascension to heaven, and coronation were indispensable to 
the commencement of this Reign of Heaven. 

Here let us pause for a moment — leave the earth, and on 
the wings of faith in the testimony of Prophets and Apos- 
tles, the two witnesses for Jesus, let us follow him to heaven 
and ascertain his reception into the heaven of heavens, and 
exaltation to the right hand of God. 

THE ASCENSION OF THE MESSIAH. 

Prophets and Apostles must now be heard. David, by 
the Spirit, says, "The chariots of God are twenty thousand, 
even thousands of angels; the Lord is among them as in 
Sinai in the holy place. Thou hast ascended on high; thou 
hast led captivity captive; thou hast received gifts for men; 
yea, for the rebellious, that the Lord God might dwell among 
them. 91 * The same Prophet in speaking of the solemn and 
joyful procession at the carrying up of the ark of the an- 
cient constitution in Mount Zion, turns his eyes from the 
type to the antitype, and thus duscribes the entrance of the 
Messiah into Heaven: — "Who shall accend into the hill of 
God?" The attendant angels in the train of the Messiah, 
approaching the heaven of heavens, shout, "Lift up your 
heads. O you gates', be lift up, you everlasting doors, and 
the King of glory shall come in." Those within, filled with 
astonishment that any one should so confidently demand 
admission into those gates so long barred against the sons 
of men, responsive shout, "Who is the King of glory?" 
The angels in attendance upon the Messiah reply in strains 
as triumphant, "The Lord, strong and mighty! the Lord 
mighty in battle!" and still more exultingly triumphant, 
shout, "Lift up your heads, O you gates! even lift them up, 
you everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in. 
Who is the King of glory? He is the Lord of hosts! he i& 
the King of glory !"f 

* Psalm Ixviii. 8. f Pe&lm *sv. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM, 177 



CORONATION OF THE MESSIAH. 

Every thing in its proper order. He that ascended first 
descended. Jesus died, was buried, raised from the dead, 
ascended, and was crowned Lord of all. In the presence 
of all the heavenly hierarchs, the four living creatures, the 
twenty-four seniors, and ten thousand times ten thousand 
angels, he presents himself before the throne. So soon as 
the Frst Born from the dead appears in the palace royal of 
the universe, his Father and his God, in his inaugural ad- 
dress, when anointing him Lord of all, says, "Let all the 
angels of God worship him" — "Sit thou at my right hand, 
till 1 make thy enemies thy footstool." "Jehovah shall send 
out of Zion [Jerusalem] the rod of thy strength: rule thou 
in the midst of thine enemies, [the city of thy strongest 
foes."] "Thy people, willing in the day of thy power, shal . 
come to thee. In the beauty of holiness, more than the 
womb of the morning, shalt thou have the dew of thy pro- 
geny. The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent. Thou 
art a Priest forever after the order of Melchisedeck. The 
Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings [that op- 
pose thee] in the day of his wrath." "Thy throne, O Goo> 
endures forever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a sceptre of 
rectitude. Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniqui- 
ty; therefore God, thy God, has anointed thee with the 
oil of py above thy fellows. Thou Lord in the beginning 
hast laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are 
the works of thy hand: they shall perish, but thou rernain- 
est; and they shall all grow old as does a garment, and 
as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be 
changed : but thou art the same, and thy years shall not 
fail."* 

Thus God highly exalted him, and did set him over all 
the works of his hands, and gave him a name and an honor 
above every name in heaven and on earth, that at the name 
of Jesus glorified every knee shall bow, and every tongue 
confess, to the glory of God. 

"Now we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the 
angels, that he might taste death for all, on account of the 
sufferings of death, crowned with glory and honor"- — Now 
"angels, authorities, principalities, and powers are subjected 

* Piaslm xc. c. and Hebrews i. 



l*/8 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

to him." "His enemies will I clothe with shame, but upon 
himself shall his crown flourish." 

The Holy Spirit sent down by Jesus from heaven, on the 
Pentecost after his resurrection, to the disciples in atten- 
dance in Jerusalem, informs the Apostles of ail that had 
been transacted in heaven during the week after his ascen- 
sion, and till that day. Peter now filled with that promised 
Spirit, informs the immense concourse assembled on the 
great day of Pentecost, that God had made that Jesus whom 
they had crucified both Lord and Christ — exalted him a 
Prince and a Saviour to grant repentance to Israel and re- 
mission of sins. 

The first act of his reign was the bestowment of the Holy 
Spirit, according to the Prophecy of Joel and his own pro- 
mise. So soon as he received the kingdom from God his 
Father, he poured out the blessings of his favor upon his 
friends; he fulfilled all his promises to the Apostles, and 
forgave three thousand of his fiercest enemies. He received 
pardons and gifts for them that did rebel, and shed forth 
abundantly all spiritual gifts on the little flock to whom it 
pleased the Father to give the kingdom. Thus commenced 
the Reign of Heaven, on the day of Pentecost, in the person 
of the Messiah, the Son of God, and the anointed Monarch 
of the universe. Under him his people, saved from their 
sins, have received a kingdom which cannot be shaken nor 
removed. 

But as the erection of the Jewish tabernacle, after the 
commencement of the first Kingdom of God, was the work 
of some time, and of united and combined effort, on the 
part of those raised up and qualified for the work; so was 
the complete erection of the new temple of God. The 
Apostles, as wise master builders, laid the foundation — 
promulged the constitution, laws, and institutions of the 
King, and raised the standard of the kingdom in many 
towns, cities, and countries, for the space of forty years. 
Some of them not only saw "the Son of Man enter upon 
his reign," and the Kingdom of God commence on Pente- 
cost, and carry his conquests over Judea, Samaria, and the 
uttermest parts of the earth ; but they saw the Lord "come 
with power" and awful glory, and accomplish all his pre- 
dictions on the deserted and devoted temple, city and peo- 
ple. Thus they saw a bright display of the golden sceptre 
of his grace in forgiving those who bowed to his authority, 
and an appalling exhibition of the iron rod of his wrath in 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 179 

taking vengeance on his enemies who would not have him 
to regn over them. 

PRESENT ADMINISTRATION OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. 

During the personal absence of the King, he has commit- 
ted the management of this kingdom to stewards. These 
were first Apostles; next to them, Prophets; next teach- 
ers* then, assistants, or helpers; then directors or presi- 
dents, all furnished with gifts, knowledge, and character, 
suited to their respective functions. Besides these, many 
persons possessed of miraculous powers — gifts of healing 
and speaking foreign languages, were employed in setting 
up and putting in order the communities composing the 
Kingdom of Heaven. Angels also were employed, and 
are still employed, under the great King in administering 
to them who are heirs of salvation. For Josus now, as 
Lord of all, has the Holy Spirit at his disposal, and all the 
angels of God ; and these are employed by him in the affairs 
of his kingdom.* 

The Apostles were plenipotentiaries and ambassadors for 
Jesus, and had all authority delegated to them from the 
King. Hence every thing was first taught and enjoined by 
them. They were the first preachers, teachers, pastors, 
overseers, and ministers in the kingdom, and had the direc- 
tion and management of all its affairs.! 

The communities collected and set in order by the Apos- 
tles were called the congregation of Christ, and all these 
taken together are sometimes called the Kingdom of God. 
But the phrases "church of God," or "congregation of 
Christ," and the phrases "Kingdom of Heaven," or "King- 
dom of God," do not always nor exactly represent the same 
thing. The elements of the Kingdom of Heaven, it will be 
remembered, are not simply its subjects, and therefore not 
simply the congregations of disciples of Christ. But as 
4hese communities possess the oracles of God, are under 
the laws and institutions of the King, and therefore enjoy 
the blessings of the present salvation, they are in the re- 
cords of the Kingdom, regarded as the only constitutional 
citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven ; and to them exclusive- 
ly belongs all the present salvation. Their King is now in 



* 1 Cor. xii. 28. Epb. iv. 11. Heb. i. 14. t 2 Cor. iii. 6. v. 18-20, 



180 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

heaven, but present with them by his Spirit in their hearts 
and in all the institutions of his kingdom. 

Every immersed believer, of good behaviour, is, by the 
constitution, a free and full citizen of the Kingdom of Hea- 
ven, and entitled to all the social privileges and honors of 
that kingdom. Such of these as meet together statedly in 
one place in obedience to the King, or his ambassadors the 
Apostles, for the observance of all the institutions of the 
King, compose a family, or house, or congregation of Christ ; 
and all these families or congregations, thus organized, 
constitute the present Kingdom of God in this world. So far 
the phrases Kingdom of Heaven and the congregation or 
body of Christ are equivalent in signification,* 

Now in gathering these communities, and in setting them 
in order, the Apostles had, when alive, and when dead, by 
their writings still have, the sole right of legislating, order- 
ing, and disposing of all things. But it is not the will of 
Jesus Christ, because it is not adapted to human nature, nor 
to the present state of his kingdom as administered in his 
absence, that the church should be governed by a written 
document alone. Hence in every city, town, and country 
where the Apostles gathered a community by their own 
personal labors, or by their assistants, in setting them in 
order, for their edification, and for their usefulness and in- 
fluence in this world, they uniformly appointed elders, or 
overseers to labor in the word and teaching, and to preside 
over the whole affairs of the community. To these also 
were added deacons, or public ministers of the congrega- 
tion, who, under the direction of the overseers, were to man- 
age all the affairs of these individual families of God. This 
the very names Bishop and Deacon, and all the qualifica- 
tions enjoined, fairly and fully import. 

But as all the citizens of the kingdom are freemen under 
Christ they all have a voice in the selection of the persons 
whom the Apostles appoint to the offices. The Apostles 
still appoint all persons so elected, possessing the qualifica- 
tions which they by the Holy Spirit prescribed. And if 
a congregation will not elect to these offices the persons pos- 
sessing these qualifications; or if by a waywardness and 
selfishness of their own, they should elect those unqualified, 
and thus disparage those marked out by the possession of 
those gifts; in either case, they despise the authority of the 

* Kora. xii. 4r-3. 1 Cor. xii. 27. Heb. iii. 6. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYS ?M. IS1 

Ambassadors of Christ and must suffer for it. It is, in- 
deed, the Holy Spirit, and not the congregations, which 
creates Bishops and Deacons. The Spirit gives the quali- 
fications, both natural and acquired; and, speaking to the 
congregations in the written oracles, commands their ordi- 
nation or appointment to the work.* 

In the present administration of the Kingdom of God. 
faith is the principle, and ordinances the means of all 
spiritual enjoyment. Without faith in the testimony of God, 
a person is without God, without Christ, and without hope 
in the world. A Christless universe, as respects spiritual 
life and joy, is the most perfect blank which fancy can 
create. Without faith, nothing in the Bible can be enjoyed ; 
and without it, there is, to man no Kingdom of Heaven in 
all the dominions of God. 

In the kingdom of nature sense is the principle, and ordi- 
nances the means of enjoyment. Without sense, or sensa- 
tion, nothing in nature can be known or enjoyed. All the 
creative, recuperative, and rennovating power, wisdom, and 
goodness of God, exhibited in nature, are contained in ordi- 
nances. The sun, moon, and stars — the clouds, the air, 
the water, the seasons, day and night, are therefore denomi- 
nated the ordinances of heaven, because God's power, wis- 
dom, and goodness are m them, and felt by us only through 
them.j Now sense, without the ordinances of nature, like 
faith without the ordinances of religion, would be no princi- 
ple of enjoyment; and the ordinances of nature, without 
sense, would be no means of enjoyment. These are the unal- 
terable decrees of God. There is no exception to them ; and 
there is no reversion of them. To illustrate and enforce 
the doctrine of this single paragraph is worthy of a volume. 
The essence, the whole essence of that reformation for 
which we contend, is wrapped up in this decree as above 
expresssed. If it be true, the ground on which we stand is 
firm and unchanegable as the Rock of Ages; if it be false, 
we build upon the sand. Reader, examine it well! 

In the Kingdom of Heaven, faith is, then, the principle* 
and ordinances the means of enjoyment; because all the 
wisdom; power, love, mercy, compassion, or grace of God, 
js ii\ the ordinances of the Kingdom of Heaven; andi f all 



* Actsvi. 2-7. xiv,23. xr. 17 3S. Philip i . 1 Tim. iil. 1-lff. Titui i. 5-10. 
Seb.xiii.7, 17,24. 

f Jeremiah xxxi. 35, 36. Job xsxviii. 31-33. Jeremiah txxiii. 2 >. 

16 



182 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

grace be in them, it can only be enjoyed through them. 
What, then, under the present administration of the King- 
doui of Heaven, are the ordinances which contain the grace 
of God? They are preaching the gospel — immersion in 
the name of Jesus, into the name of the Father, and of the 
Son} and of the Holy Spirit — the reading and teaching the 
Livmg Oracles — the Lord's day — the Lord's supper — fast- 
ing—prayer — confession of sins — and praise. To these 
may be added other appointments of God, such as exhofta- 
tation, admonition, discipline, &c: for these also are ordi- 
nances of God; and indeed, all statutes and command- 
ments are ordinances:* but we speak not at present of those 
nances which concern the good order of the Kingdom? 
bur of those which are primary means of enjoyment. These 
primary and sacred ordinances of the Kingdom of Heaven 
are the means of our individual enjoyment of the present 
salvation of God. 

Without the sun, there is no solar influence; without the 
moon, there is no lunar influence; without the stars, there 
is no sidereal influence; without the clouds, there can be no 
rain : and without the ordinances of the Kingdom of Heaven. 
there can be no heavenly influence exhibited or felt. There 
is a peculiar and distinctive influence exerted by the sun, 
moon, and stars; yet they all give light. So in the ordi- 
nances of the Kingdom of Heaven— although they all agree 
in producing certain similar effects on the subjects of the 
kingdom, there is something distinctive and peculiar in each 
of them, so that no one of them can be substituted for an- 
;r. Not one of them can be dispensed with they are 
ail necessary to the full enjoyment of the Reign of Heaven. 

In nature and in religion, ail the blessings of God be- 
stowed on man are properly classed under two heads. These 
may be called, for illustration, antecedent and consequent. 
The antecedent include all those blessings bestowed on 
man to prepare him for action and to induce him to action. 
The consequent are those which God bestows on man 
through a course of action correspondent to these antece- 
dent blessings. For example, all that God did for Adam in 
creating for him the earth and all that it contains, animal, 
vegetable, mineral; in forming him in his own image; giv- 
ing him all his physical, intellectual, and moral powers, 
and investing him with all the personal and real estate 

* James i 2~> 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 183 

which elevated him above all sublunary beings, were ante- 
cedent to any act of Adam ; and these furnished him with 
inducements to love, honor, and obey his Creator and bene- 
factor, All that God did for Abraham in promises and 
precepts before his obedience — all that he did for the Israel- 
ites in bringing them up out of Egypt, and redeeming them 
from the tyranny of Pharaoh, was antecedent to the duties 
and observances which he enjoined upon them. And all 
the blessings which Adam, Abraham, the Israelites enjoy 
through conformity to the institutions under which tfa 
were placed, were consequent upon that state of mind and 
course of action which the antecedent favors demanded and 
occasioned. God never commanded any being to do any 
thing, but the power and motive were derived from someih 
God, had done for him. 

In the Kingdom of Heaven the antecedent blessings 
the constitution of grace, the King, and all that he did, suf- 
fered, and sustained for our redemption. The 
finished before we came upon the stage of action. This is 
all favor, pure favor, sovereign favor: for their 
favor that is not free and sovereign. But the remissior 
our sins, our adoption into the family of God, our being 
made heirs and inheritors of the kingdom of g : on- 

sequent upon faith and the obedience of faith. 

Organization and life of any sort are of necessity the 
gifts of God; but health and the continued enjoyment 
life, and all its various and numerous blessings are conse- 
quent upon the proper exercise of these. He that will not 
breathe, eat, drink, sleep, exercise, cannot enjoy animal 
life. God has bestowed animal organization and life ante- 
cedent to any action of the living creature; but the creature 
may throw away that life by refusing to sustain it by the 
means essential to its preservation and comfort. 

God made but one man out of the earth, and one earthly 
nature of every sort, by a positive, direct, and imrne 
agency, of wisdom, power, and goodness. He gave these 
the power according to his own constitution or syste 
nature, of reproducing and multiplying to an indefinite ex- 
tent. But still this life is transmitted, diffused and 
ed b} T God operating through the system of nature. So 
Jesus in the new creation, by his Spirit sent down from 
heaven after his glorification, did by a positive, direct, 
immediate agency, create one congregation, one mystical, 
ly; and, according to the constitution 



184 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM, 

tern of the Kingdom of Heaven, did give to that mystical 
body created in Jerusalem, out of the more ancient earthiy 
Kingdom of God, the power of reproducing and multiplying 
to an indefinite extent. But still this new and spiritual life 
is transmitted, diffused and sustained by the Spirit of God, 
operating through the constitution, or system of grace, or- 
dained in the Kingdom of Heaven. 

Hence in setting up the Kingdom of Heaven, as in setting 
up the kingdom of nature, there was a display of divinity, 
compared with every thing subsequent, properly superna- 
tural. Hence the array of Apostles, prophets, extraordinary 
teachers, gifts, powers, miracles, &c , &c But after this 
new mystical body of Christ was created and made, it had, 
and yet has, according to the system of grace under the 
present administration of the Kingdom of Heaven, the 
power of multiplying and replenishing the whole earth, and 
mil do it; for as God breathed into the nostrils of Adam the 
spirit of life, after he had raised him out of the dust; and as 
he bestowed on his beloved Son Jesus, after he rose out of 
the water, the Holy Spirit without measure; so on the for- 
mation of the first congregation, figuratively called the body 
of Christ, Jesus did breathe into it the Holy Spirit to ani- 
mate and inhabit it till he come again. The only temple 
and habitation of God on earth, since Jesus pronounced de- 
solation on that in Jerusalem, is the body of Christ. 

Now this first congregation of Christ, ihus filled with the 
Spirit of God, had the power of raising other congregations 
of Christ; or, what is the same thing, of causing the body 
of Christ to grow and increase. Thus we see that other 
congregations were soon raised up in Judea and Samaria 
by the members of the Jerusalem body. Many were be- 
gotten to God by the Spirit of God, through the members 
of the first congregation. And since the Spirit himself 
ceased to operate in all those splendid displays of superna- 
tural grandeur, by still keeping the disciples of Christ al- 
ways in remembrance of the things spoken by the holy 
Apostles, and by all the arguments derived from the antece- 
dent blessings bestowed, working in them both to will and 
do according to the benevolence of God, he is still causing 
the body of Christ to grow and increase in stature, as well 
as m knowledge and favor of God. Thus the church of 
Christ, inspired with his Spirit, and having the oracles and 
ordinances of the Reicm of Heaven, is fully adequate to the 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 1S5 

conversion of the whole world, if she prove not recreant to 
her Lord 

In the work of conversion, her Evangelists, or those 
whom she sends beyond the precincts of her weekly meet- 
ings, have, under the influence of the Spirit of God, simply 
to propose the constitution, or the glad tidings of the Reign, 
to those without; and by all the arguments which the ora- 
cles of God, and the times and occasions suggest, to be- 
seech and persuade men to be reconciled to God, to kiss the 
Son, to accept the constitution, to bow to him who is ordain- 
ed a Prince and a Saviour to grant repentance and remission 
of sins to all who submit to his government. Thus they. 
and the congregation who sends them forth and sustains 
them in the work, beget children to God by the gospel, and 
enlarge the body of Christ. 

With all these documents before us, may we not say, 
that, as Eve was the mother of all living, so "Jerusalem is 
the mother of us all?" And thus, to use the language of 
Paul, "Men are begotten to God b^ the gospel" through the 
instrumentality of the congregations of Christ. 

Under the present administration of the Kingdom of 
Heaven a great apostacy has occurred, as foretold by the 
Apostles. As the church, compared to a city, is called 
"Mount Zion," the apostate church is called "Babylon the 
Great." Like Babylon the type, "Mystery Babylon'' the 
antitype, is to be destroyed by a Cyrus that knows not God. 
She is to fall by the sword of infidels, supported by the 
fierce judgments of God. "The Holy City" is still trodden 
under foot, and the sanctuary is filled with corruptions. It 
is, indeed, a den of thieves; but strong is the Lord that 
judges the apostate city. Till that great and notable day 
of the Lord come, we cannot, from the prophetic word, an- 
ticipate a universal return to the original gospel, nor a gen- 
eral restoration of all the institutions of the Kingdom of 
Heaven in their primitive character; and, consequently, we 
cannot promise to ourselves the universal subjugation of the 
nations to the sceptre of Jesus. 

But were we to enter upon the consideration of the ad- 
ministration of the affairs of the kingdom after the fall and 
overthrow of the apostate city and the conversion of the 
Jews, we should have to launch upon a wide and tempes- 
tuous ocean, for which our slender bark is not at this time 
sufficiently equipped. This may yet deserve the construc- 
tion of a large vessel in a more propitious season. Mean- 

16* 



186 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM, 

while the original gospel is extensively proclaimed, and 
many thousands are preparing for the day of the Lord; and 
these are taught by the "Faithful and True Witness" that 
the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, and 
that their happiness and safety alike consist in being pre- 
pared for his second advent. 



Remission of Sins. 



Luther said that the doctrine of justification, or forgive- 
ness, was the test of a standing or falling church. If 
right in this, she could not be very far wrong in any thing 
else; but if wrong here, it was not easy to suppose her 
right in any thing. I quote from memory, but this was the 
idea of that great reformer.* We agree with him in this 
as well as in many other sentiments. Emerging from the 
smoke of the great city of mystical Babylon, he saw as 
clearly and as far into these matters as any person could in 
such a hazy atmosphere. Many of his views only require 
to be carried out to their legitimate issue, and we should 
have the ancient gospel as the result. 

The doctrine of remission is the doctrine of salvation: 
for to talk of salvation without the knowledge of the remis- 
sion of sins, is to talk without meaning. To give to the 
Jews, "a knowledge of salvation by the remission of their 
sins," was the mission of John the Immerser, as said the 
the Holy Spirit. In this way he prepared a people for the 
Lord. This doctrine of forgiveness was gradually opened 
to the people during the ministry of John and Jesus, but 
was not fully developed until Pentecost, when the secrets of 
the Reign of Heaven were fully opened to men. 

From Abel to the resurrection of Jesus, transgressors 
obtained remission at the altar, through priests and sin offer- 
ings; but it was an imperfect remission as respected the 
conscience. "For the law," says Paul, (more perfect in 
this respect than the preceding economy,) "containing a 
shadow only of the good things to come, and not even the 
very image of these things, never can, with the same sacri- 
fices which they offer yearly for ever, make those who come 
to them perfect. Since being offered, would they not have 
ceased? because the worshippers being once purified, should 
have no longer conscience of sins." 

* The reformer also said: "If the article of justification be once lost, then is all 
irae Christian doctrine lost, Preface to the Ep. Gal, Phil, ed, 1800, 



88 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

The good things to come were future during the reign of 
Moses and his institution. They have come; and a clear, 
and full, and perfect remission of sins is the great result of 
the new economy in the consciences of all the citizens of 
the kingdom of Jesus. The perfection of the conscience 
of the worshippers of God under Christ, is the grand dis- 
tinguishing peculiarity in them compared with those under 
Moses. They have not only clearer views of God, of his 
iove, of his character, and of immortality; but they have 
consciences which the Jewish and Patriarchal ages could 
not produce. 

If faith only were the means of this superior perfection 
and enjoyment, and if striking symbols or types were all 
that were necessary to afford this assurance and experience 
of pardon, the Jewish people might have been as happy as 
the Christian people. They had as true testimony, as 
strong faith, and as striking emblems as we have. Many 
of them through faith obtained a high reputation, were ap- 
proved by God, and admired by men for their wonderful 
achievements. 

The difference is in the constitution. They lived under 
a constitution of law — we under a constitution of favor. 
Before the law their privileges were still more circum- 
scribed. Under the government of the Lord Jesus there 
is an institution for the forgiveness of sins, like which 
there was no institution since the world began. It was 
owing to this institution that Christians were so much dis- 
tinguished at first from the subjects of every former institu- 
tion. 

Our political happiness in these United States is not 
owing to any other cause than to our political institutions. 
If we are politically the happiest people in the world, it is 
because we have the happiest political institutions in the 
world. So it is in the Christian institution. If Christians 
were, and may be, the happiest people that ever lived, it is 
because they live under the most gracious institution ever 
bestowed on men. The meaning of thi3 institution has 
been buried under the rubbish of human traditions for hun- 
dreds of years. It was lost in the dark ages, and has never 
been, till recently disinterred. Various efforts have been 
made, and considerable progress attended them; but since 
the Grand Apostacy was completed, till the present genera- 
tion, the gospel of Jesus Christ has not been laid open to 
mankind in its original plainness, simplicity, and majesty. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 189 

A vail in reading the New Institution has been on the hearts 
of Christians, as Paul declares it was upon the hearts of 
the Jews in reading the Old Institution towards the close of 
that economy. 

The object of this essay is to open to the consideration 
of the reader, the Christian institution for the remission of 
sins; to show by what means a person may enjoy the assu- 
rance of a personal and plenary remission of all his sins. 
This we shall attempt to do by stating, illustrating, and 
proving, the following twelve propositions: 

Pkop. I.— The Apostles taught their disciples, or converts, 
that their sins were forgiven, and uniformly addressed 
them as pardoned or justified persons. 

John testifies that the youngest disciples were pardoned. 
"I write to you, little children, because your sins are for- 
given you on account of his name."* The young men 
strong in the Lord and the old men steadfast in the Lord, 
he commends for their attainments: but the little children, 
the youngest converts, he addressed as possessing this bless- 
ing as one common to all disciples, "Your sins are forgiven 
you, on account of his nameP 

Paul, in his letter to the Hebrews, asserts, that one of the 
provisions of the New Institution is the remission of the 
sins of all under it. '•'Their sins and iniquities I will re- 
member no more.t ,, From this he argues, as a first prin- 
ciple, in the Christian economy. "Now where remission of 
these is, no more offering for sin is needed.^J The reason 
assigned by the Apostles why Christians have no sin offer- 
ing is, because they have obtained remission of sins as a 
standing provision in the New Institution. 

The same Apostle testifies that the Ephesian disciples 
had obtained remission. "Be to one another kind, tender- 
hearted, forgiving each other, even as God for Christ's sake 
has forgiven you"^ Here, also, in the enumeration of 
Christian privileges and immunities under Christ, he asserts 
forgiveness ot sins as the common lot of all disciples. "In 
whom we have redemption through his blood, even the for- 
giveness of sins, according to the riches of his favor."§ In 
his letter to the Colossians, he uses the same words — "By 
whom we have the forgivenesss of sins,^ 

* 1 John ii, 13, f Hebrews viii, x 17. J Hebrews x. 18, [|Eph.i7,32, $ Eph, 
i.7. *TCo?,i. 14, 



190 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

Figurative expressions are used by the same Apostle, ex- 
pressive of the same forgiveness common to all Christians, 
"And such (guilty characters) were some of you; but you 
are washed; but you are sanctified; but you are justified by 
the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God, ,v * 
Peter, also, is a witness here. "Seeing you have purified 
your souls by obeying the truth through the Spirit."! 

But there is no need of foreign, or remote, or figurative 
expressions, when so literally and repeatedly the Apostles 
assert it as one of the adjuncts of being a disciple of Jesus. 
Had we no other testimony than that found in a single letter 
to the Colossians, it would be sufficient to sustain this po- 
sition. The command given in chapter iii. 13, assumes it 
as a principle. "As Christ forgave you 3 so also do yoitP 
But in the second chapter he makes this an inseparable ad- 
junct of being in Christ. You are complete in him — cir- 
cumcised — buried with him— raised with him— made alive 
with him— having foegiven you all trespasses." 

These explicit testimonies from the most illustrious wit- 
nesses, sustain my first proposition. On these evidences { 
rely, and 1 shall henceforth speak of it as a truth not to be 
questioned, viz.; that all the disciples of Christ converted 
in the apostolic age, were taught by the Apostles to consider 
themselves as pardoned persons. 

Peop. If.— The apostolic converts were addressed by their 
teachers as justified, persons. 

We know that none but innocent persons can be legally 
justified; but it is not in the forensic sense this term is used 
by the Apostles. Amongst the Jews it imported no more 
than pardoned; and when applied to Christians, it denoted 
that they were acquitted from guilt — discharged from con- 
demnation, and accounted as righteous persons in the sight 
of God. 

Paul in Antioch in Pisidia assured the Jews, that in or 
by Jesus all that believed were justified from all things, 
(certainly here it is equivalent to pardoned from all sins,) 
from which they could not be justified by the law of Moses. 
The disciples are said to be justified by faith. J By favor or 
grace. || In or by the blood of Christy By the name of the 
Lord Jesus.1T By works.** It is God who justifies/ft 

* ICor.vl.lI. f lPoteri. 22. % Pom v. 1. || Rom. iii. 24. § Rom. v. a. 
IT 1 Cor, vi. li. ** James ii. 24. ft Rom, viii,33. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 191 

Christians aie said to be justified by God, by Christ, by 
favor, by faith, by the blood of Jesus, by the name of the 
Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of God — also by works. Par- 
don and acquittal are the prominent ideas in every applica- 
tion of the term. God is the justifier. Jesus also, as his 
Messiah, justifies, and the Spirit declares it. As an act of 
favor it is done, by the blood of Jesus as the rightful and 
efficient cause — by the faith as the instrumental cause — by 
the name of Jesus the Lord as the immediate and connect- 
ing cause, and by works, as the demonstrative and conclu- 
sive cause. Nothing is more plain from the above testimo- 
nies, than that all Christians are declared to be justified 
under the Reign of Jesus Christ. 

Prop, III. — The ancient Christians were addressed by the 
Apostles as sanctified persons. 

Paul addressed all the disciples in Rome as saints or 
sanctified persons. In his first letter to the Corinthians, he 
addresses them all as the sanctified under Christ Jesus. "To 
the >congregation of God which is at Corinth, to the sancti- 
fied under Christ Jesus." Paul argues with the Hebrews 
that "by the will of God we are sanctified by the offering of 
Jesus Christ once only." For by this one offering he has 
for e^er perfected (the conscience of) the sanctified" So 
usual was it for the Apostles to address their disciples as 
sanctified persons, that occasionally they are thus designat- 
ed in the inscription upon their epistles. Thus Jude ad- 
dressing indiscriminately the whole Christian community, 
inscribes his catholic epistle — "To the sanctified by God our 
Father and to the preserved (or saved) by Jesus Christ; to 
the called." "The sanctifier and the sanctified are all of 
one family," says the Apostle to the Gentiles. And there- 
fore the sanctifier addressed the sanctified as his brethren, 
and the brethren the disciples as sanctified. But once more 
we must hear Paul, and hear him connecting his sanctifica- 
tion with the name of the Lord Jesus. He says, "But now 
you are sanctified by the name of the Lord Jesus and by 
the Spirit of our God."* 



1 Cor. if. 16. 



192 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM, 



Prop. IV.-— The ancient Christians, the apostolic converts, 
were addressed as "reconciled to God." 

Paul repeatedly declares that the disciples were recon- 
ciled to God. "When enemies, we were reconciled to God 
by the death of his Son.'"* To the Corinthians, he says, 
"God has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ;"! an d to 
the Coiossians, he asserts, "It pleased the Father by him to 
reconcile all things to him, having made peace by the blood 
of his cross; I say whether they be things on the earth, or 
things in the heavens. Even you [Gentiles] who were for- 
merly alienated in mind, and enemies by works which are 
wicked, he has now, indeed, reconciled in the body of his 
flesh through death.":]: To the Ephesians he declares, that 
though "once they were without God and without hope in 
the world, far off, they are now, through the blood of Christ, 
made nigh." He has made the believing Jews and Gentiles 
one, that he might, under Christ, reconcile both in one body 
to God, through the cross, having slain the enmity between 
both thereby. Indeed, he represents God as in Christ, re- 
conciling a world to himself; and so all under Christ are 
frequently said to be reconciled to God through him; which 
was the point to be proved. 

Prop. V. — The first disciples were considered and addressed 
by the Apostles, as "adopted into the family of God" 

This adoption is presented by the Apostle as the great 
reason which called forth the Son of God. "God," says he, 
sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 
"that he might buy off those under the law, that we might 
receive the adoption of sons." "And because you aresov*, 
he has sent forth the spirit of his Son into your hearts, 
crying Abba, Father."!] "You are, therefore, now sons of 
God." 

Indeed, the same writer, in his letter to the Ephesians, 
goes still farther, and represents this adoption of Jews and 
Gentiles into the rank and dignity of sons and daughters 
of the Lord Almighty, as the great object contemplated in 
God's predestination. "Having," says he, "predestinated, 
or beforehand determinate! y pointed us out, for an adoption 



*Rom.v.lO. fSCor.r 18, \ Col. i. 21. fl Gal. iv. t$. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 193 

into the number of children by Jesus Christ, for himself 
according to the good pleasure of his will."* Another tes- 
timony must suffice on this point. "Beloved," says the 
Apostle John, "now are we the sons of God; and what 
manner of love God has bestowed upon us that we should 
be ealled sons of God! If sons, then we are heirs of God 
— joint heirs with Christ." 

Prop. VI. — My sixth proposition is, that the first Christians 
were taught by the inspired teachers to consider themselves 
as saved persons. 

Because of some ambiguity in the popular import of the 
term saved, when applied to the disciples of Christ, we shall 
define it as used in this proposition. I need not here de- 
scant upon the temporal saviours and temporal salvations 
which are so conspicuous in sacred history. I need not 
state that Noah and his family were saved from the judg- 
ment inflicted upon the Old World; the Israelites from the 
Egyptians, and from all their enemies — that Paul's com- 
panions were saved from the deep, and God's people in all 
ages, in common with all mankind, from ten thousand perils 
to which their persons, their families, and their property 
have been exposed : It is not the present salvation of our 
bodies from the ills of this life; but it is the salvation of 
the soul from the guilt, pollution, and dominion of sin, 
"Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he will save his people 
from their sins." It is the salvation of the soul in this pre- 
sent life of which we speak. And here it ought to be 
clearly and distinctly stated that there is a present and a 
future salvation, of which all Christians are to be partakers. 
The former is properly the salvation of the soul, and the 
latter is the salvation of the body, at the resurrection of the 
just. There are few professing Christianity, perhaps none, 
who do not expect a future salvation — the glory of salva- 
tion to be revealed in us at the last time. Peter who uses 
this expression in the beginning of his first epistle, and 
who invites the saints to look forward to the salvation yet 
future, in the same connexion reminds them that they have 
now received the salvation of the soul. Indeed, the salva- 
tion of the soul is but the first fruit of the Spirit, and but 
an earnest until the adoption, "the redemption of the body" 

* Eph. i. 5, 

17 



194 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

from the bondage of corruption. It was in this sense of the 
word that salvation was announced to all who submitted to 
the Lord Jesus, and hence it is in this connexion equivalent 
to a deliverance of the soul from the guilt, pollution, and 
dominion of sin. Having thus defined the present salva- 
tion of the soul, I proceed to the proof of my sixth proposi- 
tion, viz.; that the first Christians were taught by their in- 
spired teachers to consider themselves as saved persons. 

Peter, on Pentecost, exhorted the Jews to save themselves 
from that untoward generation, by reforming and being 
"immersed for the remission of their sins in the name of the 
Lord Jesus." Luke, in recording the success attendant, on 
Peter's labors, expresses himself thus : "And the Lord added*, 
daily, ike saved to the congregation."* Those who obeyed 
the gospel, were recorded by Luke as "the saved" The 
King's translators, supplied out of their own system the 
words "should he" They are not in any copy of the Greek 
scriptures. Such is the first application of the words, "the 
saved" in the Christian scriptures. 

Paul uses the same words in the first letter to the Cor- 
inthians, and applies them to all the disciples of Jesus. "To 
the destroyed, the doctrine of the cross is foolishness: but 
to us, the saved, it is the power of God."f In the same let- 
ter, he says of the Gospel, "By which yon are saved, if you 
retain in your memory the word which I announce to you."j 
In his second letter he uses the same style, and distinguish- 
es the disciples by the same designation: "We are through 
God a fragrant odor of Christ among the saved, and among 
the destroyed." The Ephesians he declares are saved 
through favor: and to Titus, he says, "God has saved us not 
by works of righteousness which we have done, but accord- 
ing to his own mercy"— by what means we shall soon hear 
Paul affirm. Promises of salvation to the obedient are to 
be found in almost every public address pronounced by the 
Apostles and first preachers. For the Saviour commanded 
them to assure mankind that every one who believed the 
gospel, and was immersed, should be saved. And, connect 
ing faith with immersion, Peter averred that immersion 
saved us, purifying the conscience through the resurrection 
of Jesus. || 

While Christians are taught to expect and hope for a fu- 
ture salvation — a salvation from the power of death and the 

* Actsii.42. t iCor.i. 18, \ 1 Cor,xv,2, [j 1 Peter Ui, 21, 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 195 

grave — a salvation to be revealed in the last time — they re- 
ceive the first fruit of the Spirit, the salvation of the soul 
from guilt, pollution, and the dominion of sin, and come 
under the dominion of righteousness, peace, and joy. This 
is what Peter affirms of all the Christians in Pontus, Gala- 
tia, Cappadocia, Asia Minor, and Bythinia, to whom he thus 
speaks: "Jesus, having not seen, you love; on whom, not 
now looking, but believing, you rejoice with joy unspeaka- 
ble and full of glory, receiving the reward of your faith, 
the salvation of your souls."* 

These six propositions being each and every one of them, 
clearly sustained by the unequivocal testimony of God, 
now adduced, and as is -well known to the intelligent disci- 
pie, by many more passages, equally plain and forcible, not 
adduced; we shall now engross them into one leading pro- 
position, which we shall in this essay consider as not to be 
questioned — as irrefragably proved. 

The converts made to Jesus Christ by the Apostles were 
taught to consider themselves pardoned, justified, sanctified, 
reconciled, adopted, and saved; and were addressed as par- 
doned, justified, sanctified, reconciled, adopted, and saved 
persons, by all who first preached the Gospel of Christ. 

While this proposition is before us, it may be expedient 
to remark that all these terms are expressive not of any 
quality of mind — not of any personal attribute of body, 
soul, or spirit; but each of them represents, and all of them 
together represent a state or condition. But though these 
terms represent state and not character, there is a relation 
between state and character, or an influence which state 
has upon character, which makes the state of immense im- 
portance in a moral and religious point of view. 

Indeed, the strongest arguments which the Apostles use 
with the Christians to urge them forward in the cultivation 
and display of all the moral and religious excellencies of 
character, are drawn from the meaning and value of the 
state in which they are placed. Because forgiven, they 
should forgive; because justified, they should live righteous- 
ly; because sanctified, they should live holy and unblameaf 
bly; because reconciled to God, they should cultivate peace 
with all men, and act benevolently towards all; because 
adopted, they should walk in the dignity and purity of sons 
of God; because saved, they should abound in thanksgiv- 



* 1 Peter i. 8. 



198 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM, 

ings, praises, and rejoicings, living soberly, righteously, and 
godly, looking forward to the blessed hope. 

As this essay is designed for readers of the most common 
capacity and most superficial education, I trust I may be 
permitted to speak still more plainly upon the difference be- 
tween state and character. Childhood is a state; so is man- 
hood. Now a person in the state of childhood may act 
sometimes like a person in the state of manhood, and ihose 
arrived at the state of manhood may in character or beha- 
viour resemble those in a state of childhood. A person in 
the state of a son, may have the character of a servant; 
and a person in the state of a servant may have the cha- 
racter of a son. This is not generally to be expected^ 
though it sometimes happens. Parents and children, mas- 
ters and servants, husbands and wives, are terms denoting 
relations or states. To act in accordance with these states 
or relations, is quite a different thing from being in any one 
of these states. Many persons enter into the state of ma- 
trimony, and yet act unworthily of it. This is true of many 
other states. Enough, we presume, is said to contradistin- 
guish state and character, relations and moral qualities. 

It is scarcely necessary to remark here, that as the disci- 
ples of Christ are declared to be in a pardoned, justified? 
sanctified, reconciled, adopted, and saved state, they are the 
only persons in such a state; and all others are in an un- 
pardoned, unjustified, unsanetified, unreconciled, unadopted., 
and lost state. 

When } then, is a state of change effected, and by what 
means? This is the great question soon to be discussed. 

We are constrained to admit that a change in any one of 
these states necessarily implies, because it involves, a 
change in all the others. Every one who is pardoned is 
justified, sanctified, reconciled, adopted and saved, and so 
every one that is saved is adopted, reconciled, sanctified, jus- 
tified, and pardoned. 

To illustrate what has already been proved, let us turn to 
some of the changes which take place in society as at pre- 
sent constituted. A female changes her state. She enters 
into the state of matrimony. So soon as she has surren- 
dered herself to the affectionate government and control of 
him who has become her husband, she has not only become 
a wife, but a daughter, a sister, an aunt, a niece, &c.; and 
may stand in many other relations in which she before stood 
not. All these are connected with her becoming the wife 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 197 

of a person who stands in many relations. So when a per- 
son becomes Chrisfs, he is a son of Abraham, an heir, a 
brother, or 13 pardoned, justified, sanctified, reconciled, 
adopted and saved. 

To be in Christ, or under Christ, then, is to stand in the?e 
new relations to God, angels and men ; and to be out of him, 
or not under his mediatorship or government, is to be in, or 
under Adam only. h is to be in, what is called "the state 
of nature," unpardoned unjustified, unsanctified, unrecon- 
ciled, and an alien from the family of God, lost in trespas- 
esand sins. 

These things premised, the question presents itself, When 
are persons in Christ? 1 choose this phrase in accommo- 
dation to the familiar style of this day. No person is in a 
house, in a ship, in a state, in a kingdom, but he that has 
gone or is introduced into a house, into a ship, into a state, 
into a kingdom; so no person is in Christ but he who has 
been introduced into Christ. The scripture style is most 
religiously accurate. We have the words "in Christ" and 
the words "into Christ" often repeated in the Christian 
Scriptures; but in no one place can the one phrase be sub- 
stituted for the other. Hence in all places, where any per- 
son is said too be in Christ, it refers not to his conversion, 
regeneration, or putting on Christ, but to a state of rest or 
privilege subsequent to conversion, regeneration, or putting 
on Christ. But the phrase into Christ is always connect- 
ed with conversion, regeneration, immersion or putting on 
Christ. Before we are justified in Christ, live in Christ, or 
fall asleep in Christ, we must come, be introduced, or im- 
mersed into Christ. Into belongs only to verbs implying 
motion towards; and in to verbs implying rest, or motion 
in. He eats, sleeps, sits in the house. He walks into the 
field ; he rides into the city. "Into Christ" is a phrase only 
applicable to conversion, immersion, or regeneration, or 
what is called putting on Christ, translation into his king- 
dom, or submission to his government.* 



* To prevent mistakes I shall here transcribe a part of a note found in the Ap- 
pendix to the 2d edition of the new version of the Christian Scriptures, p. 452. 

"I am not desirous of diminishing the diiferenee of meaning between immersing 
a person in the name of the Father, and into the name of the Father. They are 
quite different ideas. But it will be asked, Is this a correct translation? To which 
I answer most undoubtedly it is. For the preposition eis is that used in this place, 
and not en. By what inadvertency the king's translators gave it in instead of into 
in this passage, and elsewhere gave it into when speaking of the same ordinance,! 
presume not to say. But they have been followed by most modern translators, and 
with them they translate it into in other places when it occurs, in relation to this 

17* 



198 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

Presuming on the intelligence of our readers, so far as 
to suppose them assured that this is no mere verbal criti- 
cism, but a discrimination that detects one of the pillars of 
an apostate church, i proceed to another preliminary pro- 
position which i choose to submit in the following words, 
to wit: 

Prop. Vil.—A change of views, though it necessarily pre- 
cedes, is in no case equivalent to, and never to he identified 
with, a change of state, 

la ail the relations of this life, in ail states or conditions 
of men, we feel the truth of this; and I would to Heaven 
that our readers could see as plainly what is of infinitely 
more importance to them, that no change of heart is equi- 
valent to, or can be substituted for, a change of state! A 
change of heart is the result of a change of views, and 
whatever can accomplish a change of views may accom- 

nstitution: For example— 1 Cor. xii. 13. For by one spirit we are all immersed 
into one body; Rom. vi. 3. Dont you know that so many of you as were immersed 

Christ, were immersed into his death. Gal. iii. 27. As many of you as have 

immersed into Christ, have put on Christ. Now for the same reason they 
ought to have rendered the following passages the same way. Acts viii. i6. Only 
they were immersed into the name of the Lord Jesus, xix. 3. Into what name were 

then immersed? When they heard this they were immersed into the name of 
the Lord Jesus. 1 Cor. i. 13. Were you immersed into the name of Paui? Lest 
any should say I had immersed into my own name. 1 Cor. x. i. Our fathers were 
all immersed into Moses in the cioud and in the sea. Now in all these places it is 

ad en is deary marked in the last quotation. They were immersed into Moses 
— -|rot into the cloud, and into the sea, but in the cloud and in the sea. To he 

ersed into Moses is one thing, and in the sea is another. To be immersed into 
the name of the Father, and in the name of the Father, are just as distinct. "In the 
luxwe" is equivalent to, by the authority of. In the name of the king, or common- 
tlth,is by t lie authority of the king or commonwealth. Now the question is. Did 
rise Saviour mean that the disciples were to be immersed by the authority of the 
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? If by the authority of the Father, for what purpose 
were they immersed? The authority by which any action is done is one thing, and 
the object, for which it is done is another. Now who that can discriminate, can think 
that it is one and the same thing to be immersed in the name of the Lord, and to be 
immersed into the name of the Lord Jesus, The former denotes the authority by 
which the action is performed — the latter the object for which it is performed. Per- 
sons are said to enter into matrimony, to enter into an alliance, to go into debt, to 
run into danger. Now to be immersed into the name of the Lord Jesus was a form 
of speech in ancient usage, as familiar and significant as any of the preceding. And 
when we analyze these expressions, we find they all import that the persons are 
either under the obligations or influence of those things into which they are said to 
enter, or into winch they are introduced. Hence those immersed into one body, 
were under the influences and obligations of that body. Those immersed into 
Moses, assumed Moses as their lawgiver, guide, and protector, and risked every 
thing upon his authority, wisdom, power and goodness. Those who were im- 
mersed into Christ put him on, and acknowledged his authority and laws, and were 
governed by his will: and those who were immersed into the name of the Father., 
Son, and Holy Spirit, regarded the Father as the fountain of all authority— the Son 
as tits only Saviour — and the Holy Spirit as the only advocate of the truth, and 
teacher of Christianity. Hence such persons as were immersed into the name of 
the Father, acknowledged him as the only living and true God — Jesus Christ as hi* 
only begotten Son, the Saviour of the world— and the Holy Spirit, as the only suc- 
cessful advocate of the truth of Christianity upon earth," 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 199 

piish a change of heart or feeling, but a change of state al- 
ways calls for something more.* 

Lavinia was the servant of Palemon, and once thought 
him a hard master. She changed her views of him, and 
her feelings were also changed towards him; still, however, 
she continued in the state of a hand maid. Palemon offered 
her first his heart, and then his hand, and she accepted 
them. He vowed and she vowed before witnesses, and she 
became his wife. Then, and not till then, was her state 
changed. She is no longer a servant — she is now a wife. 
A change of views and of feelings led to this change ia 
state; but let it be noted that this might not have issued in 
a change of state; for Maria, who was another handmaid 
of Palemon, and changed her views of him and her feelings 
towards him as much — nay, more than did Lavinia; yet 
Maria lived and died the servant maid of Palemon and La- 
vinia. 

William Agricola and his brother Thomas, both Cana- 
dians, were once much opposed to the constituted govern- 
ment of New England. They both changed their views, 
and, as a matter of course, their feelings were changed, 
William became a citizen of Rhode Island; but Thomas, 
notwithstanding his change of heart, lived and died a colo- 
nial subject of a British king. 

John and James Superbus became great enemies to each 
other. They continued irreconciled for many years. At 
length a change of views brought about a change of heart: 
but this change for more than a year was concealed ia the 

* State here has respect to the whole person It may be argued that state is as 
pertinently applied to the mind or heart as to the whole person; and that when the 
state of the mind is changed by a belief of God's testimony, the subject of that 
change is brought into as near a relation to God as he can be in this life; and as the 
kingdom of Jesus is a spiritual kingdom, he is as fit for admission into it, and far 
the enjoyment of its blessings, whenever his heart is changed from enmity to love, 
as he ever can be: nay, in truth, is actually initiated into the kingdom of Jesus the 
moment his mind is changed — and that to insist upon any persona* act as necessary 
tn admission, because such acts are necessary to admission into all the social and 
political relations in society, is an over-straining the analogies between things 
earthly and things heavenly. Not one of our opponents, as far as we remember, 
has thus argued. We have sometimes thought that they might have thus argued 
with incomparably more speciosity than appears iu any of their objections. 

But without pausing to inquire whether the state of the heart can he. perfectly 
changed from enmity to love, without an assurance of remission on some ground, 
or in consequence of some act of the mind, prerequisite thereunto;— without beiug 
at pains to show that the truth of this proposition is not at all essential to our argu- 
ment; but ouiy illustrative of it; we may say, that as Christ has redeemed the 
whole man, body, soul, and spirit, by his obedience even to death— so in 'eomimr 
Into his kingdom on earth, and in order to the enjoyment of all the present salva' 
lion, the state of the whole person must be changed; and this is what we appre- 
hend Jesus meant by his saying, "Unless a man is born of water and spirit he can- 
not enter into the Kingdom of God," and what we mean in distinguishing a efia 
of heart, or of views and feelings, from a change of state. 



200 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

heart, and by no overt act appeared. They were not re- 
conciled until mutual concessions were made and pledges 
of a change of feeling were tendered and reciprocated. 
From enemies they became friends. 

A thousand analogies might be adduced, to show that 
though a change of state often— -nay, generally results from 
a change of feelings, and this from a change of views, yet 
a change of state does not generally follow, and is some- 
thing quite different from, and cannot be identified with a 
change of heart. So in religion, a man may change his 
views of Jesus, and his heart may also be changed towards 
him; but unless a change of state ensues, he is- still unpar- 
doned, unjustified, unsanctified, unreconciled, unadopted, 
and lost to all Christian life and enjoyment. For it has been 
proved that these terms represent states and not feelings, 
condition and not character; and that a change of views 
or of heart, is not a change of state. To change a state is 
to pass into a new relation, and relation is not sentiment 
nor feeling. Some act, then, constitutional, by stipulation 
proposed, sensible, and manifest, must be performed by one 
or both the parties before such a change can be accomplish- 
ed. Hence, always, in ancient times, the proclamation of 
the gospel was accompanied by some instituted act proposed 
to those whose views were changed, by which their state was 
to be changed, and by which they weife to stand in a new 
relation to Jesus Christ. 

This brings us to "the obedience of faith" From the 
time the proclamation of God ? s philanthropy was first made, 
there was an act of obedience proposed in it by which the 
believers of the proclamation were put in actual possession 
of its blessings, and by conformity to which act a change 
of state ensued. 

To perceive what this act of faith is, it. must be remarked 
that where there is no command, there can be no obedience. 
These are correlate terms. A message or proclamation 
which has not a command in it, cannot he obeyed. But 
the gospel can be obeyed or disobeyed, and therefore in it 
there is a command. Lest any person should hesitate in a 
matter of such importance, we will prove, 

Prop. VIII. — The Gospel has in it a command, arid as such 
must be obeyed. 

And here I need only ask, Who are they who shall be 
punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM^ 201 

the Lord? Paul replies, 'They who know not God, and 
obey not the gospel of his Son?* To 'obey the gospel , 9 
and to 'become obedient to the faith,' were common phrases 
in the apostolic discourses and writings. 'By whom we 
have received apostleship, in order to the obedienee of faith 
in all nations, on account of his name.-j 'By the con> 
mandment of the everlasting God, the gospel is made known 
to all« nations for the obedience of faith?\ 'A great com- 
pany of the priests became obedient to the faith.'!] 'But 
they have not all obeyed the gospel ;'§ and, 'What shai] be 
the end of them who obey not the gospeV? From these 
sayings it is unquestionably plain, that either the gospel 
itself, taken as a whole, is a command, or that in it there is 
a command through the obedience of which salvation is 
enjoyed. 

The obedience of the gospel is called the obedience of 
faith compared with the obedience of law. Faith in God's 
promise through Jesus Christ being the principle from 
which the obedience flows. To present the gospel in the 
form of a command is an act of favor, because it engages 
the will and the affections of men, and puts it in their power 
to have an assurance of their salvation from which they 
would be necessarily excluded if no such act of obedience 
were enjoined. 

Whatever the*act of faith may be, it necessarily becomes 
the line of discrimination between the two states before de- 
scribed. On this side, and on that, mankind are in quite 
different states. On the one side they are pardoned, justi- 
fied, sanctified, reconciled, adopted, and saved : on the other, 
they are in a state of condemnation. This act is sometimes 
called immersion, regeneration, conversion; and that this 
may appear obvious to all, we shall be at some pains to 
confirm and illustrate it. 

That a relation or a state can be changed by an act, 1 
need scarcely at this time attempt to prove; especially to 
those who know that the act of marriage, of naturalization, 
adoption, and their being born, changes the state of the sub- 
jects of such acts. But rather than attempt to prove that a 
state is or may be changed by an act, I should rather ask 
if any person has heard, knows, or can conceive of a state 
being changed without some act? This point being con- 

* Thess.i. 18. * Romans i. 5. % Romans xvi. 26. ||Actsvi.7. $ Romans x. 
8. *T 1 Peter iv. 17 



202 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

ceded to us by all the rational, we presume not to prove. 
But a question may arise whether faith itself, or an act of 
obedience to some command or institution, is that act by 
which our state is changed. 

Prop. IX. — That it is not faith, but an act resulting from 
faith , which changes our state, we shall now attempt to 
prove. 

No relation in which we stand to the material world — no 
political relation, or relation to society, can be changed by 
believing, apart from the acts to which that belief, or faith, 
induces us. Faith never made an American citizen, though 
it may have been the cause of manv thousands migrating 
to this continent, and ultimately becoming citizens of these 
United States. Faith never made a man a husband, a 
father, a son, a brother, a master, a servant, though it may 
have been essentially necessary to all these relations, as 
a cause, or principle preparatory, or tending thereunto. — 
Thus, when in scripture men are said to be justified by 
faith, or to receive any blessing through faith, it is because 
faith is the principle of action, and as such, the cause of 
those acts by which such blessings are enjoyed. But the 
principle without those acts is nothing; and it is only by 
the acts which it induces to perform, that it becomes the 
instrument of any blessings to man. 

Many blessings are metonymically ascribed to faith in 
the sacred writings. We are said to be justified, sanctified, 
and purified by faith — to walk by faith, and to live by faith, 
&c. &c. But these sayings, as qualified by the Apostles, 
mean no more than by believing the truth of God we have 
access into all these blessings. So that as Paul explains, 'By 
faith we have access into the favor in which we stand.' 
These words he uses on two occasions,* when speaking of 
the value of this principle, contrasted with the principle of 
law; and in his letter to the Hebrews, when he brings up 
his cloud of witnesses to the excellency of this principle, he 
shows that by it the ancients obtained a high reputation — 
that is, as he explains, by their acts of faith in obedience ta 
God's commands. 

That faith by itself neither justifies, sanctifies, nor puri- 
fies, is admitted by those who oppose immersion for the for* 

* Romans v. 2, Ephesians iii, 12, 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 203 

giveness of sins. They all include the idea of the blood 
of Christ. And yet they seem not to perceive, that, in 
objecting to immersion as necessary to forgiveness in con- 
nexion with faith, their own arguments preclude them from 
connecting the blood of Christ with faith. If they admit 
that faith , apart from the blood of Christ, cannot obtain 
pardon, they admit all that is necessary to prove them 
inconsistent with themselves in opposing immersion for the 
remission of sins; or immersion, as that act by which our 
state is changed. 

The Apostle Peter, when first publishing the gospel to the 
Jews, taught them that they were not forgiven their sins by 
faith; but by an act of faith, by a believing immersion into 
the Lord Jesus. That this may appear evident to all, we 
shall examine his Pentecostian address, and his Pentecos- 
tian hearers. 

Peter now holding the keys of the kingdom of Jesus, and 
speaking under the commission for converting the world, 
and by the authority of the Lord Jesus; guided, inspired, 
and accompanied by the Spirit—may be expected to speak 
the truth, the whole truth, plainly and intelligibly, to his 
brethren the Jews. He had that day declared the gospel 
facts, and proved the resurrection and ascension of Jesus to 
the conviction of thousands. They believed and repented 
— believed that Jesus was the Messiah, had died as a sin- 
offering, was risen from the dead, and crowned Lord of all. 
Being full of this faith, they inquired of Peter and the 
other Apostles what they ought to do to obtain remission. 
They were informed, that though they now believed and 
repented, they were not pardoned; but must 'reform and be 
immersed for the remission of sins? Immersion for the 
forgiveness of sins, was the command addressed to these 
believers, to these penitents, in answer to the most earnest 
question ; and by one of the most sincere, candid, and honest 
speakers ever heard. This act of faith was presented 
as that act by which a change in their state could be effect- 
ed; or, in other words, by which alone they could be par- 
doned. They who 'gladly received this word were that day 
immersed ;' or, in other words, that same day were con- 
verted, or regenerated, or obeyed the gospel. These ex- 
pressions, in the Apostle's style, when applied to persoui 
coming into the kingdom, denote the same act, as will be 
perceived from the various passages in the writings of Luke 
and Paul. This testimony, when the speaker, the occasion? 



204 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM, 

and the congregations are all taken into view, is itself alone 
sufficient to establish the point in support of which we have 
adduced it. 

But the second discourse, recorded by Luke from the 
lips of the same Peter, pronounced in Solomon's Portico, is 
equally pointed, clear, and full in support of this position, 
After he" had explained the miracle which he had wrought 
in the name of the Lord Jesus, and stated the same gospel 
facts, he proclaims the same command — "Reform and be 
converted, that your sins may be blotted out;" or, "Reform 
and turn to God, that so your sins may be blotted out; that 
seasons of refreshment from the presence of the Lord may 
come, and that he may send Jesus whom the heavens must 
receive till the accomplishment of all the things which God 
has foretold," &c. Peter, in substituting other terms in this 
proclamation, for those used on Pentecost, does not preach 
a new gospel, but the same gospel in terms equally strong. 
He uses the same word in the first part of the command, 
which he used on Pentecost. Instead of "be immersed" he 
has here "be converted," or "turn to God;" instead of "'for 
the remission of your sins" here it is, "that your sins may 
I>e blotted out;" and instead of "you shall receive the gift of 
the Holy Spirit" here it is, "Vhat seasons of refreshment 
from the presence of the Lord may come"* On Pentecost, 
it was, 1st. "Reform." 2d. "Be immersed," 3d. "For the 
remission of sins." And 4th. "You shall receive the gift of 
the Holy Spirit." In Solomon's Portico, it was, 1st. "Re 
form," 2d. "Be converted." 3d. "That your sins may be 
blotted out." And 4th. "That seasons of refreshment from 
the presence of the Lord may come;" that "you may have 
righteousness , peace, and joy in a holy spirit." So read the 
different clauses in those two discourses to the Jews, expres- 
sive of the same acts. 

There is yet, in this discourse In the Portico, a very 
strong expression, declarative of the same gracious con- 
nexion between immersion and remission. It is the last 
period in the discourse. "Unto you, first, brethren of the 



* Tbere is no propriety in the common version of this member of the sentence 
— no h en, instead of that, "seasons of refreshment." Some make modern revivals 
"seasons of refreshment," such a3 these here alluded to. Then it would read. 
^That your sins may be blotted out in the times of revivals' — when revivals shall 
come! The term is opos, which, in this construction, as various critics have con- 
tended, is equivalent to 'that ' in our tongue. To promise a future remission Is nr? 
part of the gospel, nor of the apostolie proclamation. All Christians experience 
seasons of refreshment in cordially obeying the gospel. 



PHE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 205 

Jews, God having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless 
you, every one of you, in the act of turning from your ini- 
quities;" or, as we would say, in the act of conversion. 
Why the Apostle Peter should have used "converted," or 
"turning to God," instead of "be immersed," is, to the can- 
did and unprejudiced reader of this narrative, very plain. 
After Pentecost, the disciples immersed on that day, having 
turned to God through Jesus, were spoken of by their 
brethren as discipled or converted to Jesus. The unbeliev- 
ing Jews, soon after Pentecost, knew that the disciples 
called the immersed "converted;" and immersion being the 
act of faith, which drew the line of demarcation between 
Christians and Jews, nothing could be more natural than to 
call the act of immersion the converting of a Jew. The 
time intervening between these discourses was long enough 
to introduce and familiarize this style in the metropolis; so 
that when a Christian said, "Be converted?* or "Turn to 
God? every Jew knew, the act of putting on the Messiah 
to be that intended. After the immersion of some Gentiles 
into the faith, in the house and neighborhood of Cornelius 
it was reported that the Gentiles were converted to God, 
Thus, the Apostles in passing through the country, gave 
great joy to the disciples from among the Jews, "telling 
them of the conversion" or immersion of the Gentiles.* 
Indeed, in a short time it was a summary way of represent- 
ing the faith, reformation, and immersion of disciples, by 
using one word for all. Thus, "All the inhabitants of Sha- 
ron and Lydda turned," or "were converted to the Lord."| 
While on the subject of conversion, we shall adduce, as 
a fourth testimony, the words of the Lord Jesus to Paul, 
when he called him. Paul is introduced by Luke in the 
Acts, telling what the Lord said to him when he received 
his apostleship. "I send you Paul, by the faith that re~ 
spects me, to open their eyes; to turn or convert them from 
darkness to light; and from the power of Satan to God; 
that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and an inheri- 
tance among the saved."| Every thing to be accomplished 
among the Gentiles was to be effected by the faith or truth 
in Christ. The Saviour connected that with opening their 
eyes: their conversion from the ignorance and tyranny of 
sin and Satan; their forgiveness of sins; and finally, an in- 
heritance among the saved or sanctified, First, faith or 

* Acts xr. 3. | Acts ix. % Acts xxvi. 17, 18. 

18 



208 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM, 

illumination; then, conversion; then, remission of sins; 
then, the inheritance. All these testimonies concur with 
each other in presenting the act of faith — Christian immer- 
sion, frequently called conversion, as that act, inseparably 
connected with the remission of sins; or that change of 
state, of which we have already spoken. 

One reason why we would arrest the attention of the 
reader to the substitution of the terms convert and conver- 
sion, for immerse and immersion, in the apostolic discourses 
ana in the sacred writings, is not so much for the purpose 
of proving that the forgiveness of sins, or a change of 
state, is necessarily connected with the act of faith called 
"Christian immersion:'' as it is to fix the minds of the bibli- 
cal students upon a very important fact, viz.; that no per- 
son is altogether discipled to Christ until he is immersed. 
It is true, that this view of the matter bears strongly upon 
the question; but it bears upon other great matters pertain- 
ing to the present and ancient order of things. 

Discovering that much depends upon having correct views 
on this point, we have carefully examined all those passa- 
ges where "conversion" either in the common version, or 
in the new version, or in the original, occurs; and have 
found a uniformity in the use of this term, and its com- 
pounds and derivatives, which warrant the conclusion, that 
no person was said to be converted until he was immersed; 
and that all persons who were immersed were said to be 
converted. If any apostatized, and were again converted, 
it was in that sense in which our Lord applied the word to 
Peter, "When you are converted, strengthen your brethren.* 
or, as James used it in his letter when he said, U U any of 
you err from the truth, and one convert him, let him know 
that he who converts a transgressor from the error of his 
way. shall save a soul from death, and hide a multitude of 
sins." 

The commission for converting the world teaches that 
immersion was necessary to discipleship; for Jesus said 7 
"Convert the nations, immersing them into the name," &c, 
and "teaching them to observe," &c. The construction of 
the sentence fairly indicates that no person can be a disci- 
pie, according to the commission, who has not been im- 
mersed : for the active participle in connexion with an im- 
perative, either declares the manner in which the imperative 
shall be obeyed, or explains the meaning of the command. 
To this I have not found an exception: — for example,— * 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 207 

"Cleanse the house, sweeping it." "Cleanse the garment, 
washing it," shows the manner in which the command is to 
be obeyed, or explains the meaning of it. Thus, "Convert 
(or disciple) the nations, immersing them, and teaching 
them to observe," &c, expresses the manner in which the 
command is to be obeyed. 

it the Apostles had only preached and not immersed, 
they would not have converted the hearers according to the 
commission: and if they had immersed, and not taught 
them to observe the commands of the Saviour, they would 
have been transgressors. A disciple, then, according to 
the commission, is one that has heard the gospel, believed 
it, and been immersed. A disciple, indeed, is one that con- 
tinues in keeping the commandments of Jesus.* 

Prop. X. — 1 now proceed to show that immersion and was! 
ing of regeneration are two Bible names for the same at 
contemplated in two different points of view. 

The term regeneration occurs but twice in the common 
version of the New Testament, and not once in the Old 
Testament. The first is Matt. xix. 28. "You that have fol- 
lowed me in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall 
sit on the throne of his glory, you also shall sit upon twelve 
thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." Dr. George 
Campbell, following the punctuation adopted by Griesbacn, 
and substituting the word renovation instead of regeneration* 
renders it, "That, at the renovation, when the Son of Man 

* The following examples of the above general rule, illustrate its value an*/ 
certainty: — "Let us oiler up the sacrifice of praise to God, confessing to Ins name.',' 
Heb.xiii. ]0. "Let us go forth to him out of the camp bearing his reproach.-' Heir. 
xiii._13. '-Be an approved workman rightly dividing the word of truth." 2 Tim, 
ii. 15. "Guard the precious deposit, avoiding- profane babblings." 1 Tim. vi. 20. ''Oil- 
serve these things without prejudice, doing nothing by partiality." 1 Tim v. 2 1 , 
"Pray every where lifting up holy hands." 1 Tim. ii. 8. "Walk in wisdom to them 
that are without, gaining time. Col. iv. 5. "Do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, 
giving thanks toGod." Col.iii. 17. "Speak the truth, putting away lying." Epn. 
iv. 25. "Be not vainglorious, provoking one another." Gal. v. 2G. "Convert tne 
nations, baptizing them, #c. jfe. Now do not all these participles define their re- 
spective imperatives, or show the way or manner in which the command should 
be obeyed ! Many similar exampies may be found in all tke sacred writings. 

This rule has passed through a fiery trial. I have only been more fully con- 
vinced of its generality and value. There is no rule in the English syntax more 
general in its application. I would only add, that the participle does not always 
express every thing in the command; but it always points out something emphati- 
cally in the intention of the imperative, aud without which the injunction cannot 
lie suitably and fully performed. 

We have, however, no need of this rule, nor of anything not generally conced- 
ed to establish the point before us : for the New Testament and all antiquity !.: 
f.hatso long as the Apostles liyed, no one was regarded as a disciple of Christ who 
ftad not confessed his faith, and was immersed. 



208 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

shall be seated on his glorious throne, you, my followers, 
sitting also upon twelve thrones,'' &c. Genesis, being the 
term used for creation, pali?igene$ia, denotes the new crea- 
tion — either literally at the resurrection of the dead, or 
figuratively at the commencement of the Christian era, or 
5"t the commencement of the Millennium, Josephus, the 
Jew, called the return of Israel to their own land and insti- 
tution, "The Regeneration" or "Palingenesia." 

No writer of any note, critic, or expositor, supposes that 
regeneration in Matt xix. applies to what is, in theology 7 
called the new birth, or regeneration of the soul — not even 
the Presbyterian Matthew Henry, nor Dr. Whitby, Camp- 
hell, Macknight, Thompson; nor, indeed, any writer we 
recollect ever to have read. Regeneration in this passage 
denotes a state, a new state of things. In the same sense 
we often use the term. The American revolution was the 
regeneration of the country or the government. The com- 
mencement of the Christian era was a regeneration — so will 
be the creation of the new Heavens and new Earth. As 
this is so plain a matter, and so generally admitted, we pro- 
ceed to the second occurrence of this term. 

"God has saved us by the washing of regeneration, and 
renewing of the Holy Spirit."* God has saved us through 
the bath of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy 
Spirit. This is the second time the word regeneration is- 
found in the New Testament; and here it is conceded by 
the most learned Paidobaptists and Baptists, that it refers to* 
immersion. Though I have been led to this conclusion 
from my views of the Christian religion, yet I neither hold 
it myself, nor justify it to others on this account. 1 choose 
rather to establish it by other testimonies, than by those 
who agree with me in the import of this institution,, 
Amdhgst these I shall place Dr. James Macknight, for- 
merly prolocutor or moderator of the Presbyterian church 
of Scotland, and translator of the x\postoIic Epistles. One 
of his notes upon Titus iii. 5, is in the following words: — 
u Through the bath of regeneration." "Through baptism?. 
called the bath of regeneration, not because any change m 
the nature" (but I would say in the state) "of the baptized 
person is produced by baptism; but because it is an em- 
blem of the purification of his soul from sin." He then 
quotes in proof, (Acts xxii. 16.) "Arise, and be immersed^ 

* Titus iii.5. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 209 

and wash thee from thy sins." — Paul. He supports this 
view also from Ephesians v. 26, and John iii. 5. "The batn 
of regeneration," is then according to this learned Paido- 
baptist, Christian immersion, 

Parkhurst, in his Lexicon, upon the word loutron, con- 
nects the same phrase, the washing or bath of regeneration, 
with Ephesians v. 26, and John iii. 5, as alluding to immer- 
sion. So say all the critics, one by one, as far as I know. 
Even Matthew Henry, the good and venerable Presbyterian 
commentator, concedes this point also, and quotes Ephesians 
v. 26, Acts xxii. 16, and Matthew xxviii. 19, 20, in support 
of the conclusion, that the washing of regeneration refers 
to baptism. 

Our opponents themselves being judges, we have gained 
this point, viz., that the only time the phrase washing of 
regeneration occurs in the New Testament, with reference 
to a personal change, it means, or is equivalent to, immer- 
sion. Washing of regeneration and immersion, are there- 
fore two names for the same thing. Although I might be 
justified in proceeding to another topic, and in supposing 
this point to be fully established, I choose rather, for the 
sake of the slow to apprehend, to fortify this conclusion by 
some other testimonies and arguments. 

As regeneration is taught to be equivalent to "being brrn 
again? and understood to be of the same import with a new 
birth, we shall examine it under this metaphor. For if 
immersion be equivalent to regeneration, and regeneration 
be of the same import with being born again, then being 
born a§ain. and being immersed are the same thing; for 
this plain reason, that things which are equal to the same 
thing, are equal to one another. All must admit, that no 
person can be born again of that which he receives. For as 
no person is born naturally— so no person can be £orn 
again, or born metaphorically — of that which he receives. 
It destroys the idea, the figure, the allusion, and every thing 
else which authorises the application of these words to any 
change which takes place in man, to suppose that the sub- 
ject of the new birth, or regeneration, is born again of 
something which he has received. This single remark 
shows the impropriety, and inaccuracy of thought; or, per- 
haps, the want of thought which the popular notions of re] 
generation sanction and sanctify. 

In being born naturally there is the begetter, and that 
which is begotten. These are not the same. The act of 

18* 



fe 2I0 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

being born is different from that which is born. Now the 
scriptures caary this figure through every prominent point 
of coincidence There is the begetter. "Of his own wilt 
he has begotten or impregnated us;" says James the Apos- 
tle. "By the word of truth" as the incorruptible seed; or? 
as Peter says, "We are born again, not from corruptible? 
but from incorruptible seed, the word of God which endur- 
eth forever." But when the act of being born is spoken of, 
then the water is introduced. Hence, before we came into 
the kingdom, we are born of water. 

The Spirit of God is the begetter, the gospel is the seed ; 
and being thus begotten, and quickened, we are born of the 
water. A child is alive before it is bom, and the act of 
being born only changes its state, not its life. Just so in 
the metaphorical birth. Persons are begotten by the Spirit 
of God, impregnated by the Word, and born of the water* 

In one sense a person is born of his father; but not until 
he is first born of his mother. So in every place wrjere 
water and the Spirit, or water and the Word, are spoken of, 
the water stands first. Every child is born of its father^ 
when it is born of its mother. Hence the Saviour put the 
mother first, and the Apostles follow him. No other reason 
can be assigned for placing the water first. How uniform 
this style! Jesus says to Nicodemus, "You must be born 
again, or you cannot discern the reign of God." Born 
again! What means this? "Nicodemus, unless you are 
born of water and of the Spirit you cannot enter into the 
Kingdom of God." So Paul speaks to the Ephesians, v, 26 ? 
"He cleansed the church," or the disciples, "by a bath of 
water ) and the Word," And to Titus he says, "He saved 
the disciples by the bath of regeneration, and renewing of 
the Holy Spirit." Now, as soon as, and not before, a disci- 
ple, who has been begotten of God, is born of water, he is 
born of God, or of the Spirit. Regeneration is, therefore^ 
the act of being bom* Hence its connexion always with 
water. Reader, reflect — what a jargon, what a confusion? 
have the mystic doctors made of this metaphorical expres- 
sion, and of this topic of regeneration. To call the re- 
ceiving of any spirit, or any influence, or energy, or any 
operation upon the heart of man, regeneration, is an abuse 
of all speech, as well as a departure from the diction of : 

* See tho following essay on Regeneration. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM, 211 

Holy Spirit, who calls nothing personal regeneration, except 
the act of immersion* 

Some curious criticisms have been offered, to escape the 
force of the plain declaration of Jesus and his Apostles 9 
upon this subject. Some say, that the words, "Except a 
man be born of water and Spirit," are not to be understood 
literally. Surely, then, if to be bom of water does not 
mean to be born of water, to be born of the Spirit must mean 
something else than to bo born of the Spirit. This is so 
fanatical and extravagant as to need no other exposure. 
He who cannot see the propriety of calling immersion 
a being born again, can see no propriety in any metaphor 
in common use. A resurrection is a new birth. Jesus 
is said to be the first born from the dead; because the first 
who rose from the dead to die no more. And, surely, there 
is no abuse of speech, but the greatest propriety in saying,. 
that he who has died to sin, and been buried in water, when 
raised up again out of that element, is born again or regen- 
erated. If Jesus was born again, when he came out of a 

* That John iii. 5, and Titus iii. 5, refer to immersion, is the judgment of all the 
learned Catholics and Protestants of every name under heaven. 

The authors and finishers of the Westminster creed— one hundred and twenty- 
>ne Divines, ten Lords, and twenty Commissioners of the Parliament of England, 
under the question 165, "What is baptismV quote John iii. 5, Titus iii 5, tfi-prove 
that baptism is a washing with water, and a "sign of remission of sins.'''' 

Michaelis, Home, Lightfoot, Beveridge, Taylor, Jones of Navland, Bp, Mant, 
Whitby, Burkit,Bp. Hall, Dr. Wells, Booker, Dr. G. Ridley, Bp. ilyder:— but why 
attempt a list of great names? There are a thousand more assert it. 

Bp. White says, that "regeneration, as detached from baptism, never entered into 
any ereed before the 17th century." 

Whitby, on John iii. 5, says, "That our Lord here speaks of baptismal regene- 
ration, the whole Christian church from its earliest times has invariably taught."' 

Our modern "great divines" even in America, have taught the same. Timothy 
Dwi<zht, the greatest Rabbi of Presbyterians the New World has produced, say^ 
vol. iv. pp. 300, 301, "to be born again,is precisely the same thing as to be born of 
water and the Spirit." — "To be born of water is to be baptized." And how un- 
charitable ! — He adds, "He who, understanding the nature and authority of this 
institution, refuses to be baptized, will never enter into the visible nor invisi- 
ble kingdom of god." Vol. iv. p. 302. So preached the Presidentof Yale. 

George Whitfield, writing on John iii. 5, says, "Does not this verse urge the 
absolute necessity of water baptism? Yes, when it may be had. But how God 
will deal with persons unbaptized, we cannot tell. n Vol. iv. p. 355. I say with him , 
we cannot tell with certainty. But I am of opinion, than when a neglect proceeds 
from a simple mistake or sheer ignorance, and when there is no aversion, but a will 
to do every thing the Lord commands, the Lord will admit into the everlasting king- 
dom those who by reason of this mistake never had the testimony of God assuring 
them of pardon or justification here, and consequently never did fully enjoy the 
salvation of God on earth. But I will say with the renowned President of Yale, 
that "he who, understanding the nature and authority of this institution, refuses to 
he baptized, will never enter the visible nor invisible Kingdom of God." By the 
■'•visible and invisible kingdom," he means the kingdom of grace and glory. He 
adds on the same page, "He who persists in this act. of rebellion against the autho- 
rity of Christ, will never belong to his kingdom." Vol. iv. p. 302 ~ 

John Wesley asserts, that by baptism we enter into covenant with God, an 
everlasting covenant, are admitted into the church, made members of Christ, ma-!e 
the children of God. By water as the means, the water of baptism, we are regene- 
rated or born again." [Preservative, pp. 146-150.] 



212 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

sepulchre, surely he is born again who is raised up out of 
the grave of waters. 

Those who are thus begotten, and born of God, are chil- 
dren of God. It would be a monstrous supposition, that 
such persons are not freed from their sins. To be born of 
God, and born in sin, is inconceivable. Remission of sins 
is as certainly granted to "the born of God;" as life eternal, 
and deliverance from corruption, will be granted to the chil- 
dren of the resurrection, when born from the grave. 

To illustrate what has, we presume to say, been now- 
proved, we shall consider political regeneration. Though 
the term regeneration is laxly employed in this association; 
yet, by such a license of speech, w^ may illustrate this sub- 
ject to the apprehension of all. Yes, the whole subject of 
faith, change of heart, regeneration, and character. 

All the civilized nations and kingdoms have constitutions; 
and in their constitutions they have declared who are mem- 
bers of the social compact. Besides those who compose 
the community at the time a constitution is adopted, they 
say who shall participate its blessings in all time coming; 
that is, who shall be admitted into it, and by what means 
they shall become members of it. They have always de- 
creed, that their own posterity shall inherit their political 
rights and immunities. But they have, also, ordained that 
foreigners; that is, members of other communities, may 
become, by adoption, or naturalization, citizens, or fellow 
members of the same community. But they have, in their 
wisdom and benevolence, instituted a rite or form of adop- 
tion, which form bas much meaning; and which when sub- 
mitted to, changes the state of the subiect of it. Now, as 
the Saviour consented to be called a King, and to call the 
community over which he presides a Kingdom, it was be- 
cause of the analogy between these human institutions and 
his institution; and for the purpose not of confounding, but 
of aiding the human mind in apprehending and comprehend- 
ing the great object of his mission to the world. And it 
is worthy of the most emphatic attention, that it was when 

SPEAKING OF A KINGDOM, HE SPOKE OF BEING BORN AGAIN. 

Yes, on that occasion, and on that occasion only, when he 
spoke of entering into his kingdom, did he speak of the ne- 
cessity of being born again. And had he not chosen that 
figure he would not have chosen the figure of a new birth. 
With these facts and circumstances before us let us examine 



THE CHRISTIAN SVSTElff. 2 IS 

political regeneration as the best conceivable illustration of 
religious regeneration. 

A. B. was born in the island of Great Britain, a native 
subject of George 111. king of Great Britian. He was 
much attached to his native island, to the people, the man- 
ners and customs of his ancestors and kinsmen. With all 
these attachments still increasing, he grew up to manhood. 
Then he heard the report of this good land, of this large, 
fertile, and most desirable country. The country, the peo- 
ple, and the government, were represented to him in the 
most favorable light. Sometimes these representations 
were exaggerated; but still he could separate the truth from 
the fable: and was fully pursuaded not only of the existence 
of these United States, but also, of the eligibility of being 
a citizen thereof. He believed the testimony which he 
heard, resolved to expatriate himself from the land of his 
nativity, to imperil life and property, putting himself aboard 
of a ship, and bidding adieu to all the companions of his 
youth, his kinsmen, and dear friends. So full was his con- 
viction, and so strong his faith, that old Neptune and King 
Eolus, with all their terrors could not appal him. He sailed 
from his native shores, and landed on this continent. He 
was, however, ignorant of many things pertaining to this 
new country, and government; and on his arrival, asked for 
the rights and immunities of a citizen. He was told, that 
the civil rights of hospitality to a stranger could be extend- 
ed to him as a friendly alien; but not one of the rights, or 
immunities of a citizen could be his, unless he were born 
again. "Born again!" said he, in a disappointed tone to Co- 
lumbus, with whom he had his first conversation on the sub- 
ject. "What do you mean by being born again?" 

Columbus. — You must be naturalized, or adopted as a 
citizen; or, what we call horn again. 

A. B. — 1 do not understand you. How can a man be 
born when he is grown? 

Col. — That which is born of Great Britain is British, 
and that which is born of America is American. >lf, then, 
vou would be an American citizen, you must be born of 
America. 

A. B. — 'Born of America V You astonish me! 1 have 
come to America, well disposed towards the people and the 
country. 1 was once attached to England, but 1 became at- 
tached to the United States; and because of my faith, and 



214 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

attachments, I have come here; and will you not receive 
me into your kingdom, because i could not help being born 
in England? 

Col. — Well disposed as I am, and we are, to receive you, 
most assuredly I say to you, unless you are regenerated 
in a court-house, and be enfranchised by and before the 
judges, you can never become a citizen of these United 
States. 

A. B> — Yours is an arbitrary and despotic government. 
What airs of sovereignty you have assumed! 

Col. — By no means. Right reason, wisdom, policy, and 
benevolence for you; a9 well as the safety, dignity, and 
happiness of the whole community, require that every alien 
shall be naturalized, or made a citizen, before he exercise 
or enjoy the rights of a citizen. 

A. B. — You are certainly arbitrary— -if not in the thing 
itself, of regeneration — in the place and manner in which 
it shall be done. Why, for instance, say that it must he 
done in a court-house? 

Col. — 1 will tell you: because there are the judges, the 
records, and the seal of the government, 

A. B. — I understand you. Well, tell me, how is a man 
horn again? Tell me plainly and without a figure. 

Col.— With pleasure. You were born of your mother 
and of your father, when you were born in England; and 
you were born legitimately, according to the institutions of 
England. Well, then, you were born of England, as well 
as born in it; and were, therefore, wholly English, This 
was your first birth. But you have expatriated yourself, as 
your application here proves— I say, sentimentally you have 
expatriated yourself; but we must have a formal solemn 
fledge of your renunciation; and we will give you a formal 
solemn pledge of your adoption. You must, ex animo, m 
the presence of the Judges and the Recorders, renounce all 
allegiance to every foreign prince and potentate, and espe- 
cially to His Majesty the King of Great Britain. 

A. B. — Is that the thing? I can, with all my heart, re- 
nounce all political allegiance to every foreign prince and 
government, is that all? I have, then, no objection to 
that. 

Col, — There is this also: — You are not only to renounce 
all political allegiance; but you must also, from the soul, 
solemnly vow, in the presence of the same Judges and 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 215 

Recorders, that you will adopt and submit to the constitu^ 
tion and government of these United States. 

A. B, — I can do that also. 1 can renounce, and i can 
adopt; nor do 1 object to the place where it shall be done, 
But, pray, what solemn pledge will you give me! 

Col. — So soon as you have vowed renunciation and adop- 
tion in the presence of the Judges and Kecorders, we will 
give you a certificate, with a red seal, the seal of state? 
attached to it; stating that you, having now been natural- 
ized, or born according to our institutions, are born of Ame- 
rica; and are now a son, an adopted son of America. And 
that red seal indicates that the blood, the best blood of this 
government, will be shed for you, to protect you and defend 
you; and that your life will, when called for, be cheerfully 
given up for your mother, of whom you have been politically 
born.; as it would have been for your own natural political 
mother, of whom you were first born. 

A. B. — To this I must subscribe. In my mother tongue 
it all means that 1 give myself up politically to this govern- 
ment, and it gives itself up to me, before witness too. How 
soon, pray, after this new birth may I exercise and enjoy ail 
the rights of a citizen ? 

Col. — They are yours the first breath you breathe under 
your new mother. It is true, we have not, in these United 
States, any symbol through which a person is politically 
regenerated. We only ask a solemn pledge, and give one. 
Some nations have symbols. But we understand that the 
moment the vow is taken, the person is politically born 
again. And as every other child has all the rights of a 
child which it can exercise, so soon as it inhales the air; so 
have ail our political children all political rights, so soon as 
the form of naturalization is consummated. But, remember, 
not till then, 

A. B. — You say some nations had their symbols. What 
do you mean by these? 

Col. — I mean that the naturalized had to submit to some 
emblematic rite, by which they were symbolically detached 
from every other people, and introduced among those who 
adopted them, and whom they adopted. The Indian nations 
wash all whom they adopt in a running stream, and impose 
this task upon their females. The Jews circumcised and 
washed all whom they admitted to the rights of their in- 
stitutions. Other customs and forms have obtained m 



216 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

other nations; but we regard simply the meaning of the 
thing, and have no symbol. 

A. ]3, — In this 1 feel but little interested. I wish to be- 
come a citizen of these United States; especially as I am 
informed I can have no inheritance among you, nor a voice 
in the nation, nor any immunity, unless I am born again. 

Col, — You must, then, submit to the institution; and I 
know that so soon as you are politically born again, you 
will feel more of the importance and utility of this institu- 
tion than you now can; and will be just as anxious as 1 am 
to see others submit to this wise, wholesome, and benevolent 
institution. 

A, B. — As my faith brought me to your shores, and as I 
approve your constitution and government, I will not (now 
that I understand your institutions) suffer an opportunity to 
pass. I will direct my course to the place where 1 can be 
born again. 

I ought here to offer an apology for a phrase occurring 
frequently in this essay and in this dialogue. When we 
represent the subject of immersion as active, either in so 
many words or impliedly, we so far depart from that style 
which comports with the figure of "being born." For all 
persons are passive in being born. So in immersion, the 
subject buries not himself, raises not himself; but is buried 
and raised by another. So that in the act the subject is 
always passive. And it is of the act alone of which we thus 
speak. 

From all that has been said on regeneration, and from 
the illustration just now adduced, the following conclusions 
must, we think, be apparent to all: — 

First. Begetting and quickening necessarily precede 
being born. 

Second. Being born imparts no new life; but is simply 
a change of state, and introduces into a new mode of living. 
Third. Regeneration, or immersion— -the former refer- 
ring to the import of the act; and the latter term to the aet 
itself — denote only the act of being born. 

Fourth. God, or the Spirit of God, being the anther of 
the whole institution, imparting to it its life and efficiency, 
is the begetter, in the fullest sense of that term. Yet, in a 
subordinate sense, every one skilful in the word of God, 
who converts another, may be said to have begotten him 
whom he enlightens. So Paul says, C I have begotten Ones 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 217 

*mus in my bonds :'-and 'I have begotten you, Corinthians, 
through the gospel.' ' 

Fifth. The Gospel is declared to be the seed;— the power 
and strength of the Holy Spirit to impart life. 

Sixth And the great argument, pertinent to our object, 
in this long examination of conversion and regeneration, is 
that which we conceive to be the most apparent of all other 
conclusions, v,z:_that remission of sins, or coming into a 
state 01 acceptance, being one of the present immunities of 
the Kingdom of Heaven, cannot be scripturaily enjoyed bv 
any person before immersion. As soon can a person be a citi- 
zen before he is born, or have the immunities of an American 
citizen while an alien; as one enjoy the privileges of a son 
of God before he ,s born again. For Jesus expressly de- 
h,nf\ K hG ha „ s "^ § iventhe Privilege of sons to anv 
but to those born of God.- If, then, the present forgiveness 

IS t be a P" T > ,e ??! a " d a ri S ht of *«e «nder The new 
constitution, m the kingdom of Jesus; and if bein^ born 
again, or being born of water and of the Spirit, is necessary 
to admission ; and if being born of water means immersion 
as clearly proved by all witnesses; then, remission of 2 
cannot m this l,fe, be constitutionally enjoyed previous to 
immersion. If there be any proposition regarding any item 
of the Christian institution, which admits !f clearer p oof 

^et „r on than this one ' * have yet to ,e - *«5 

But before we dismiss thesixth evidence, which embraces 
so many items, I beg leave to make a remark or twc "on the 
propriety of considering the term "immersion," as equiva? 
lent to the term "conversion." equiva 

t n S nVe M? n,, - is '? n a1 ' Sides ' « nd erstood to be a turning 
to God. Not a thinking favorably of God, nor a repent nf 
for former misdeeds; but an actual turning to God, Tn 3 
and in deed, ft ,s true, that no person can be said toTum 
to God whose mmd ,s not enlightened, and whose heart is 

SS f P ° S - t0War u dS ^ A!1 human actions > «°t re! 
suiting from previous thought or determination, are rather 
the actions of a machine, than the actions of a raSal 
being "He that comes to God," or turns tohim, "must be 
heve tnat God exists, and that he is a rewarder of every 
one who diligently seeks him." Then he will seek and find 
the Lord. An "external conversion" is no conversion at 

* John i. 12. 

19 



218 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

all, A turning to God with the lips, while the heart is far 
from him, is mere pretence and mockery. But though I 
never thought anything else, since I thought upon religion; 
I understand the ''turning to God," taught in the New Insti- 
tution, to be a coming to the Lord Jesus — not a thinking 
about doing it, nor a repenting that we have not done it; — 
but an actual coming to him. The question then is, Where 
shall we find him? Where shall we meet him? No where 
on earth but in his institutions. "Where he records his 
name," there only can he be found; for there only has he 
promised to be found. I affirm, then, that the first institution, 
txon, in which we can meet with God, is, the institution for 
remission. And here it is worthy of notice, that the Apos- 
tles, in ail their speeches and replies to interrogatories, 
never commanded an inquirer to pray, read or sing, as pre- 
liminary to coming; but always commanded and proclaimed 
immersion as the first duty, or the first thing to be done f 
after a belief of the testimony. Hence, neither praying, 
smging, reading, repenting, sorrowing, resolving, nor wait- 
ing to be better, was the converting act. Immersion alone 
was that act of turning to God. Hence, in the commission 
to convert the nations, the only institution mentioned after 
proclaiming the gospel, was the immersion of the believers, 
as the divinely authorized way of carrying out and com- 
pleting the work. And from the day of Pentecost to the 
final Amen in the revelation of Jesus Christ, no person was 
said to be converted, or to turn to God, until he was buried 
in, and raised up out of the water. 

H it were not to treat this subject as one of doubtful dis- 
putation, I would say, that had there not been some act, 
such as immersion agreed on all hands, to be the medium 
of remission and the act of conversion and regeneration; 
the Apostles could not, with any regard to truth and consis- 
tency, have addressed the disciples as pardoned, justified, . 
sanctified, reconciled, adopted, and saved persons If ail : 
this had depended upon some mental change, as faith; they 
couid never have addressed their congregations in any other 
way than as the moderns do: and that is always in the lan- 
guage of doubt and uncertainty — hoping a little, and fearing 
much. This mode of address and the modern compared, is 
proof positive, that they viewed the immersed through one 
medium, and we through another. They taught all the 
disciples to consider not only themselves as saved persons; 
but all whom they saw, or knew to be immersed into the 



THECHEISTTA!? SYSTEM. 219 

Lord Jesus. They saluted every one, on his coming out of 
the water, as saved, and recorded him as such. Luke writes, 
the Lord added the saved daily to the congregation."* 

Whenever a child is born into a family, it is a brother or 
a sister to all the other children of the family; and its being 
born of the same parents, is the act causative and declara- 
tive of its fraternity. All is mental and invisible before 
coming out of the water; and as immersion is the first act 
commanded, and the first constitutional act; so it was in 
the commission, the act by which the Apostles were com- 
manded to turn or convert those to God, who believed their 
testimony. In this sense, then, it is the converting act. 
No man can, scripturaily, be said to be converted to God 
until he is immersed. How ecclesiastics interpret their 
own language is no concern of ours. We contend for the 
pure speech, and for the apostolic ideas attached to it. 

To resume the direct testimonies declarative of the re- 
mission of sins by immersion, we turn to the Gentiles. 
Peter was sent to the house of Cornelius to tell him and his 
family "words by which they might be saved." He tells 
those words. He was interrupted by the miraculous de 
scent of the Holy Spirit. But it is to be noticed, that th 
testimony, to which the Holy Spirit there affixed its sea! 
was the following words: — u To him gave all the prophets 
witness, that every one who believes on him, shall receive 
remission of sins by Ms name" While speaking these words, 
concerning remission of sins by, or through his name, the 
Holy Spirit in its marvellous gifts of tongues, fell upon 
them. 

Many, seeing so much stress laid upon faith or belief, 
suppose that ail blessings flow from it immediately. This js 
a great mistake. Faith, indeed, is the principle, and Ifae 
distinguishing principle of this 4 economy: but it is oniy 
the principle of action. Hence, we find the name, or per- 
son of Christ always interposed between faith and the cure, 
mental or corporeal. The woman, who touched the tuft of 
the mantle of Jesus^had as much faith before as after; but 
though her faith was the cause of her putting forth her 
hand, and accompanied it; she was not cured until the tomb* 
That great type of Christ, the brazen serpent, cured no Is- 
raelite simply by faith. The Israelites, as soon as they 
were bitten, believed it would cure them a But yet they 

* Actsii, 



220 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

were not cured as soon as bitten; nor until they looked to 
the serpent. It was one thing to believe that looking at 
the serpent would cure them; and another to look at it. It 
was the faith, remotely; but, immediately, the look, which 
cured them. It was not faith in the waters of Jordan that 
healed the leprosy of Naarnan the Syrian. It was immers- 
ing himself in it, according to the commandment. It was 
not faith in the pool of Siioam, that cured the blind man, 
whose eyes Jesus anointed with clay; it was his washing 
his eyes in Siloam's water. Hence, the imposition of 
hands, or a word, or a touch, or a shadow, or something 
from the persons of those anointed with the Holy Spirit, 
was the immediate cause of all the cures recorded in the 
New Testament. It is true, also, that without faith it is im- 
possible to be healed; for in some places Jesus could not 
work many miracles, because of their unbelief. It is so in 
all the moral remedies and cures. It is impossible to re- 
ceive the remission of sins without faith. In this world of 
means, (however it may be in a world where there are no 
means) it is as impossible to receive any blessing through 
faith without the appointed means. Both are indispensable. 
Hence, the name of the Lord Jesus is interposed between 
faith and forgiveness, justification and sanctification, even 
where immersion into that name is not detailed. It would 
have been unprecedented in the annals of the world, for the 
historian always to have recorded all the circumstances of 
the same institution, on every allusion to it; and it would 
have been equally so for the Apostles to have mentioned it 
always in the same words. Thus, in the passage before us, 
the name of the Lord is only mentioned. So in the first 
letter to the Corinthians, the disciples are represented as 
saved, as washed, as justified, sanctified by the name of the 
Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. The frequent 
interposition of the name of the Lord between faith and for- 
giveness, justification, sanctification, &c, is explained in a 
remark in James' speech in Jerusalem.* It is the applica- 
tion of an ancient prophecy, concerning the conversion of 
the Gentiles. The Gentiles are spoken of as turning to, or 
seeking the Lord. But who of them are thus converted? 
"Even all the Gentiles vpon whom my name is called." It 
is, then, to those upon whom the name of the Lord is called, 

* Acts zv, 17. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 221 

Aat the name of the Lord communicates remission, justifi- 
cation, &c. 

Some captious spirits need to be reminded, that as they 
sometimes find forgiveness, justification, sanctification, &c, 
ascribed to grace, to the blood of Christ, to the name of the 
Lord, without an allusion to faith; so we sometimes hvc, 
faith, and ^race, and the blood of Christ, without an all us io ft 
to water. Now, if they have any reason and right to say, 
that faith is understood in the one case; we have the same 
reason and right to say, that water or immersion is under- 
stood in the other. For their argument is, that in sundry 
places this matter is made plain enough. This is, also, our 
argument — in sundry places this matter is made pram 
enough. This single remark cuts off all their objections 
drawn from the fact, that immersion is not always found m 
every place where the name of the Lord, or faith is found 
connected with forgiveness. Neither is grace, the blood of 
Christ, nor faith, always mentioned with forgiveness, Wfoen 
they find a passage where remission of sins is mentioned 
without immersion, it is weak, or unfair, in the extreme, to 
argue from that, that forgiveness can be enjoyed without 
immersion. If their logic be worth any thing, it 

WILL PROVE, THAT A MAN MAY BE FORGIVEN WITHOUT 
0RACE, THE BLOOD OF JESUS, AND WITHOUT FAITH: FOR 
WE CAN FIND PASSAGES, MANY PASSAGES, WHERE REMIS- 
SION, OR JUSTIFICATION, SANCTIFICATION, OR SOME SIMI- 
LAR TERM OCCURS, AND NO MENTION OF EITHER GRACE, 
FAITH, OR THE BLOOD OF JESUS. 

As this is the pith, the marrow, and fatness of all 
logic of our most ingenious opponents on this subject, I wish 
I could make it more emphatic than by printing it in capi- 
tals. I know some editors, some of our Doctors of Divini- 
ty, some of our most learned declaimers, who make this 
argument, which we unhesitatingly call a genuine sophism, 
the Alpha and the Omega of their speeches against the 
meaning, and indispensable importance of Christian im- 
mersion. 

The New Testament would have been a curious book, if, 
every time remission of sins was mentioned, or alluded to, 
it had been preceded by grace, faith, the blood of Jesus, 
immersion, fyc, Sfc. But now the question comes, which, 
to the rational, is the emphatic question— whether do 

THEY THINK, BELIEVE, TEACH, AND PRACTISE MORE WISELY 
AND MORE SAFELY, WHO THINK, BELIEVE, AND TEACH. 

19* 



222 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEMo 

THAT GRACE, FAITH, THE BLOOD OF JESUS, THE NAME OF 
THE LORD, AND IMMERSION, ARE ALL ESSENTIAL TO IM- 
MEDIATE PARDON AND ACCEPTANCE; — OR THEY WHO SAY, 
THAT FAITH ONLY, GRACE ONLY, THE BLOOD OF CHRIST 
ONLY, THE NAME OF THE LORD ONLY — AND IMMERSION 

not at all? To all men, women, and children, of com- 
mon, sense, this question is submitted. 

it is, however, to me admirable, that the remission of 
sins should be, not merely unequivocally, but so repeatedly 
declared through immersion, as it is in the apostolic writings. 
And here I would ask the whole thinking community, one 
by one, whether, if the whole race of men had been assem- 
bled on Pentecost, or in Solomon's portico, and had asked 
Peter the same question, which the convicted proposed, 
would he, or would he not, have given them the same an- 
swer? Would he not have told the whole race to reform*, 
and be immersed for the remission of their sins? or, to re- 
form and he converted, that their sins might be blotted out! 
—to arise and be immersed, and wash away their sins? M 
he would not, let them give a reason; and if they say he 
would, let them assign a reason why they do not go and do 
likewise. 

Some have objected against the "seasons of refreshment,- 9 
or the comforts of the Holy Spirit being placed subsequent 
to "conversion," or "regeneration," or "immersion;" (for 
when we speak scriptural ly, we must use these terms as 
all referring to the same thing,) because the gifts of the 
Holy Spirit were poured out upon the Gentiles before im- 
mersion. They see not the design of thus welcoming the 
Gentiles into the kingdom. They forget the comparison of 
the Gentiles to a returning prodigal, and his father going out 
to meet him, even while he was yet a good way off. God 
had welcomed the first fruits of the Jews into his kingdom, 
by a stupendous display of spiritual gifts, called the baptism 
of the Holy Spirit, before any one of the Jews had been 
immersed into the Lord Jesus. And, as Peter explains this 
matter in Cornelius 1 * case, it appears that God determined 
to make no difference between the Jews and Gentiles in re- 
ceiving them into his kingdom. Hence, says Peter, "he 
gave them the same gift which he gave to us Jews at the 
beginning," (never since Pentecost.) Thus Peter was au- 
thorized to command those Gentiles to be immersed by the 
authority of the Lord, no man daring to forbid it. But these 
gifts of the Holy Spirit, differed exceedingly from the sea-* 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 223 

sons of refreshment, from the righteousness, peace, and joy 
m the Holy Spirit, the common enjoyment of all who were 
immersed into the name of the Lord Jesus for the remission 
of sins.* 

Let it be noted here, as pertinent to our present purpose, 
that as the Apostle Peter was interrupted by the baptism of 
the Holy Spirit, when he began to speak of the forgiveness 
by the name of the Lord Jesus; so soon as he saw the 
Lord and received them, he commanded them to be immers- 
ed by the authority of the Lord. And here 1 must propose 
another question to the learned, and the unlearned. How 
comes it to pass, that though once and only once, it is com- 
manded that the nations who believe should be immersed 
into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
Spirit; and though we read of no person being immersed 
into this namem this way; I say, how comes it to pass, that 
all sects use these words without a scruple, and baptize or 
sprinkle in this name; when more than once persons are 
commanded to be immersed for the remission of sins, and 
but few of the proclaimers can be induced to immerse for 
the remission of sins, though so repeatedly taught and pro- 
claimed by the Apostles? Is one command, unsupported by 
a single precedent, sufficient to justify this practice of Chris- 
tians; and sundry commands and precedents from the same 
authority insufficient to authorize, or justify us in immersing 
for the remission of sins? Answer this who can; I cannot, 
upon any other principle than, that the tyrant Custom, who 
gives no account of his doings, has so decreed. 

I come now to another of the direct and positive testimo- 
nies of the Apostles, showing that immersion for the remis- 
sion of sins is an institution of Jesus Christ. It is the address 
of Ananias to Saul : "Arise and be immersed and wash 
away your sins, calling upon the name of the Lord." On 
this testimony we have not as yet descanted in this essay. 
It has been mentioned, but not examined. 

Paul, like the Pentecostian hearers, when convinced of 
the truth of the pretensions of the Messiah, asked what ke 
should do. He was commanded to go into Damascus, and 
it should be told him there what to do. It was told him in 
the words now before us. But, say some, this cannot be un- 
derstood literally. 

For experiment, then, take it figuratively. Of what was 

* See Christian Baptist, vol. 6, p, 266. 



224 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

it figurative? Of something already received? Of pardon 
formerly bestowed? A figure of the past?! This is anoma- 
lous. I find one writer, and but one, who converts this 
into a commemorative baptism, like Israel's commemorating 
the escape from Egypt, or Christians, commemorating the 
Lord's death. And, if 1 do not mistake, some preacher said 
it was a figurative expression, similar to "This is my body!" 
One, whom I pressed out of all these refuges, was candid 
enough to say, he really did not know what it meant; but it 
could not mean that Paul was to "be baptized for the remis- 
sion of his sins P' 

"To wash away sins" is a figurative expression. Like 
other metaphorie expressions, it puts the resemblance in 
place of the proper word. It necessarily means something 
analogous to what is said. But we are said to be washed 
from our sin in, or by the blood of Christ. But even "wash- 
ed in blood" is a figurative expression, and means something 
analogous to washing in water. Perhaps we may find in 
another expression a means of reconciling these strong me- 
taphors. Rev. vii. 14. "They have washed their robes, and 
made them white in the blood of the Lamb." Here are two 
things equally incomprehensible — to wash garments white 
in blood, and to wash away sins in water! An efficacy is 
ascribed to water which it does not possess; and, as certain- 
ly, an efficacy is ascribed to blood which it does not pos- 
sess. If blood can whiten or cleanse garments, certainly 
water can wash away sins. There is, then, a transferring 
of the efficacy of blood to water; and a transfering of the 
efficacy of water to blood. This is a plain solution of the 
whole matter. God has transferred, in some way, the white- 
ning efficacy, or cleansing power of water, to blood; and 
the absolving or pardoning power of blood to water. This 
is done upon the same principle as that of accounting faith 
for righteousness. What a gracious institution! God has 
opened a fountain for sin, for moral pollution. He has given 
it an extension far and wide as sin has spread— far and 
wide as water flows. Wherever water, faith, and the name 
of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are, there will be found 
the efficacy of the blood of Jesus. Yes, as God first gave 
the efficacy of water to blood, he has now given the efficacy 
of blood to water. This, as was said, is figurative; but it is 
not a figure which misleads, for the meaning is given with- 
out a figure, viz., immersion for the remission of sins. And 
to him that made the washing of clay from the eyes, the 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM, 225 

washing away of blindness, it is competent to make the im- 
mersion of the body in water efficacious to the washing 
away of sin from the conscience. 

From the conscience, J say; for there its malignity is fe\t- v 
and it is only in releasing the conscience from guilt, and its 
consequences — fear and shame, that we are released from 
the dominion of sin, or washed from its pollution in this 
world. Thus immersion , says Peter, saves us, not by cleans- 
ing the body from its filth, but the conscience from its guilt; 
yes, immersion saves us by burying us with Christ, raising 
us with him, and so our consciences are purified from dead 
works to serve the living God. Hence our Lord gave so 
much importance to immersion in giving the commission to 
convert the world — "He that believes and is immersed shall 
be saved." 

But, while viewing the water and the blood as made to 
unite their powers, as certainly as Jesus came by water and 
blood, we ought to consider another testimony given to this 
gracious combination of powers, by Paul the Apostle: "Be- 
ing sprinkled in heart from an evil conscience, and being 
washed in body with clean water. * The application of 
water, the cleansing element, to the body, is made in this 
gracious institution to reach the conscience, as did the blood 
of sprinkling under the law. 

Some ask, How can water, which penetrates not the 
skin, reach the conscience? They boast of such an objec- 
tion, as exhibiting great intellect, and good sense. But lit- 
tle do they think, that in so talking, they laugh at, and mock 
the whole Divine Economy, under the Old and New In- 
stitutions: for, I ask, did not the sacrifices, and Jewish pu- 
rifications, some way reach the conscience of that people!! 
If they did not, it was all mere frivolity throughout. And 
can eating bread, and drinking wine, not influence nor 
affect the soul ! And cannot the breath of one man pierce 
the heart of another, and so move his blood, as to make his 
head a fountain of tears! He, who thus objects to water, 
and the import of immersion, objects to the whole remedial 
institution, as taught by Moses and by Christ, and insults 
the wisdom and goodness of God in the whole scheme of 
salvation. And he, who objects to water, because it can 
only take away the filth of the flesh, ought rather to object 
to blood; because it rather besmears and pollutes, than 



* Hebrews x. 24, 



226 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

cleanses the body, and cannot touch the soul. But all such 
reasoners are foolish taikers. To submit to God's institu- 
tion is our wisdom, and our happiness. The experience of 
the myriads who were immersed for the remission of their 
sins, detailed in the Christian scriptures, to say nothing of 
those immersed in our times, is worth more than volumes of 
arguments from the lips and pens of those who can only re- 
gard, and venerate the traditions of their fathers; because 
it is presumed their fathers were wiser, and more able to 
judge correctly, than their sons. 

But as it is not our object to quote, and expatiate upon, 
all the sacred testimonies, direct and allusive to immersion 
for the remission of sins, we shall close the proof and illus- 
tration of this proposition with an incidental allusion to the 
cleansing efficacy of this institution, found in the 2d Epis- 
tle of Peter.* After enumerating the additions to faith ne- 
cessary to secure our calling and election, of which courage 
is the first; and charity, or universal love, the last; the 
Apostle says, that "he who has not these things is blind, 
shutting his eyes, and forgetting that he was purified from 
his old sinsP I need not here say, that this is, perhaps, 
(and certainly as far as I know,) universally understood to 
refer to Christian immersion. The "old sins," or "former 
sins" can, we presume, mean no other sins than those 
^washed away in immersion. No person has yet attempted 
to show that these words can import an;y thing else. It is 
one of the most unequivocal, and, because incidental, one 
of the most decisive proofs, that, in Peter's judgment, all 
former sins were remitted in immersion. With Peter we 
began our proof of this position, and with Peter we shall 
^nd our proof of it. He first proclaimed reformation for the 
remission of sins; and in his last and farewell letters to the 
Christian communities, he reminds them of that purification 
from sin, received in, and through immersion; and in the 
strongest terms cautions them against forgetting that they 
were so purified. 

Were any person to reason upon the simple import of the 
action commanded by Jesus, 1 think it might be made appa- 
rent from the action itself, in its two parts, the burial and 
the resurrection, that it must import every thing which we 
have heard the Apostles ascribe to it. Corruption goes 
down into the grave literally; but does corruption come 

* 2 Peterr i. 9. 



[ THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 227 

forth out of it? Is there no change of state in the grave? 
Who is it that expects to come forth from the grave in the 
same state in which he descends into it? The first born from 
the dead did not; nor shall any of them who fall asleep in 
him. How, then, can it be, that any person buried with 
Christ in immersion, can rise with Christ, and not rise in a 
new state!! Surely the Apostle exhorts to a new life from 
the change of state effected in immersion. "Since, indeed, 
you have risen with Christ, set your affections on things 
above." Walk in a new life. 

Again, and in the last place here — Is a child in the same 
state after, as before its birth? Is not its state changed? 
And does it not live a new life, compared with its former 
mode of living? As new born babes desire the milk of the 
breast, so let the newly regenerate desire the unadulterated 
milk of the Word, that they may grow thereby. Call im- 
mersion, then, a new birth, a washing of regeneration, or a 
resurrection, and its meaning is the same. And when so de- 
nominated, it must import that change of state which is 
imported in putting on Christ, in being pardoned, justified, 
sanctified, adopted, reconciled, saved, which was the great 
proposition to be proved and illustrated, and which we think, 
has been proved and illustrated by the preceding testimo- 
nies and reflections. 

Though no article of Christian faith, nor item of Christian 
practice, can, legitimately, rest upon any testimony, reason- 
ing, or authority, out of the sacred writings of the Apostles, 
were it only one day after their decease; yet the views and 
practices, of those who were the contemporaries, or the pu- 
pils, of the Apostles and their immediate successors, may 
be adduced as corroborating evidence of the truths taught, 
and the practices enjoined, by the Apostles; and, as such, 
may be cited; still bearing in mind, that where the testimo- 
ny of Apostles ends, Christian faith necessarily terminates. 
After this preliminary remark, I proceed to sustain the fol- 
lowing proposition :— 

Prop. XI. — All the apostolical Fathers, as they are called; 
all the pupils of the Apostles; and all the ecclesiastical 
writers of note, of the first four Christian centuries, whose 
writings have come down to us; allude to, and speak of 
Christian immersion, as the "regeneration" and "remis- 
sion of sins" spoken of in the New Testament 



228 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM, 

This proposition I shall sustain by the testimony of those 
who have examined all Christian antiquity, and by citing 
the words of those usually called the apostolical Fathers, 
and other distinguished writers of the first four hundred 
years. We shall first summon one whose name is familiar 
throughout Christendom. Whether the writing be genuine 
or spurious, it is on all hands admitted to be a fragment of 
the highest antiquity :.— 

BARNABAS, 

In his catholic epistle, chapter xi. says, "Let us now in- 
quire whether the Lord took care to manifest any thing be- 
forehand, concerning water and the cross. Now, for the 
former of these, it is written to the people of Israel, how 
they shall not receive that baptism which brings to forgive- 
ness of sins; but shall institute another to themselves that 
cannot. For thus saith the Prophet, "Be astonished, O 
Heavens! and let the earth tremble at it; because this 
people have done two great and wicked things: They have 
left me, the fountain of living waters, and have digged for 
themselves broken cisterns that can hold no water. Is my 
holy mountain ^ion, a desolate wilderness? For she shall 
be as a young bird when its nest is taken away." — "Con- 
sider how he hath joined both the cross and the water to- 
gether. For this he saith, "Blessed are they, who, putting 
their trust in the cross, descend into the water; for they shall 
have their reward in due time; then, saith he, will I give it. 
them." But as concerning the present time, he saith, 
"Their leaves shall not fail." Meaning thereby, that 
every word that shall go out of your mouth, shall through 
faith and charity be to the conversion and hope of many. 
In like manner does another Prophet speak : "And the land 
of Jacob was the praise of all the earth;" magnifying there- 
by the vessels of his Spirit. And what follows? "And there 
was a river running on the right hand, and beautiful trees 
grew up by it; and he that shall eat of them shall live for- 
ever." The signification of which is this: — that we go 
down into the water full of sins and pollutions; but come up 
again bringing forth fruit; having in our hearts the fear 
and hope which are in Jesus by the Spirit: u And whosoever 
shall eat of them shall live forever." That is, whosoever 
shall hearken to those that call them, and shall believe, shall 
live forever." 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 229 



CLEMENT AND HERMAS. 



The former gives no testimony on the subject. The lat- 
ter deposes as follows.* 

In speaking of a tower built upon ihe water by which he 
signified the building of Christ's church, he thus speaks: 
— "Hear, therefore, why the tower is built on the waters: — 
Because your life is saved, and shall be saved by water." 
In answer to the question, "Why did the stones come up 
into this tower out of the deep?" he says it was necessary 
for them to come up by (or through) water, that they might 
be at rest; for they could not otherwise enter into the king- 
dom of God : for before any one receives the name of the 
Son of God, he is liable to death; but when he receives 
that seal, he is delivered from death, and assigned to life, 
Now that seal is water, into which persons go down, liable 
£o death; but come out of it, assigned to life; for which 
reason to these also was this seal preached; and they made 
use of it, that they might enter the Kingdom of God." 

Both Clement and Hermas wrote about the end of the 
first, or beginning of the second century. 

Hermas, moreover, deposes as follows, in another work 
of his, called "The Commands of Hermas."t 

•'And I said to him, I have even now heard from certain 
teachers, that there is no other repentance besides that of 
baptism; when we go down into the water, and receive the 
forgiveness of sins, and after that we should sin no more, 
but live in purity. And he said to me, Thou hast been 
rightly informed" 

Having closely and repeatedly examined the Epistles of 
Clement; of Polycarp, to the Philipians; of Ignatius, to 
the Ephesians; that to the Magnesians; that to the Tral- 
lians, the Romans, the Philadelphians, the Smyrnians, and 
his Epistle to Polycarp; together with the Catholic Epistle 
of Barnabas, and the genuine works of Hermas, I can af- 
iirm that the preceding extracts are the only passages in 
all these writings that speak of immersion. 

Having heard the apostolic Fathers, as they are called, 
depose to the views of the pupils of the Apostles, down to 
A. D. 140; I will summon a very learned Paidobaptist anti- 
quarian, who can bring forward every writer and Father, 

* Book of Similitudes, chap, xvi. t Com* 4. chap.iii. 

20 



230 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

down to the fifth century; and before we hear any of his 
witnesses, we shall interrogate him concerning his owe 
convictions after he had spent years in rumaging all Chris- 
tian antiquity: — 

TESTIMONY OF BE. W. WALL, AUTHOR OF THE HISTORY OF 
INFANT BAPTISM. 

Pray, Doctor, have you examined ail the primitive wri- 
ters, from the death of John down to the fifth century? 

W. Wall— I have. 

And will you explicitly avow what was the established 
and universal view of all Christians, public and private, for 
four hundred years from the nativity of the Messiah, on the 
import of the saying, (John iii. 5,) "Except a man be born 
of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom 
of God?" 

W. Wall. — "There is not any one Christian writer, of 
any antiquity in any language, but wno understands it of 
baptism; and if it be not so understood, it is difficult to give 
an account how a person is born of water, any more than 
born of wood?** 

Bid all the Christians, public and private, and all the 
Christian writers from Barnabas to the times of Pelagius, 
(419,) as far as you know, continue to use the term regene- 
rate b.s only applicable to immersion? 

W. Wall, — "The Christians did, in all ancient times, 
continue the use of this name ''regeneration" for baptism; 
so that they never use the word 'regenerate? or 'horn again? 
but they mean, or denote by it, baptism. And almost all 
the quotations which I shall bring in this book, shall be in- 
stances of it."t 

Did they not also substitute for "baptism" and "baptize,^ 
the words renewed, sanctified, sealed, enlightened, initiated % 
as well as regenerated? 

W. Wall. — "For to baptize, they used the following 
words: — Most commonly, anagennao, to regenerate; some- 
times, kianopoieo, or anakainiozo, to renew, frequently , 
agiazo, to sanctify. Sometimes they call it the seal; and 
frequently, illumination, as it i9 also called, Heb. vi. 4, and 
sometimes, teliosis, initiation."! "St. Austin, not less thar* 

* 4th London edition, p. 11C, vol. 1. A. D. 1829. t Vol, I. p. 24. 

J Vol.1, p. 8. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 231 

& hundred times, expresses baptized by the word sancti- 
fed.™ 

We shall now see some of W. WalPs witnesses; and I 
choose rather to introduce them from his own pen, as he 
cannot be supposod partial to the views I have presented in 
this essay: — 

JUSTIN MARTYR. 

Justin Martyr wrote about forty years after John the 
Apostle died, and stands most conspicuous among the prim- 
itive Fathers. He addressed an apology to the Emperor 
Antoninus Pius. In this apology he narrates the practices 
of the Christians, and the reasons of them. Concerning 
those who are persuaded and believe the things which are 
taught, and who promise to live according to them, he 
writes — 

"Then we bring them to some place where there is water, 
and they are regenerated by the same way of regeneration 
by which we were regenerated: for they are washed in 
water {en to udati) in the name of God the Father and Lord 
of all things, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of the 
Holy Spirit; for Christ says, Unless you be regenerated 
you cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; and every 
body knows it is impossible for those who are once genera- 
ted (or born) to enter again into their mother's womb." 

"It was foretold by Isaiah, as I said, by what means they 
who should repent of their sins might escape them; and 
was written in these words, "Wash you, make you clean, 
put away the evil," &c. 

"And we have been taught by the Apostles this reason 
for this thing. Because we being ignorant of our first birth, 
were generated by necessity (or course of nature) and have 
been brought up in ill customs and conversation; that we 
should not continue children of that necessity and ignorance, 
but of will (or choice) and knowledge, and should obtain 
forgiveness of the sins in which we have lived, by water 
(or in water.) Then is invoked over him that has a mind 
to be regenerated, the name of God the Father, &c. And 
this washing is called the enlightening" 

As you trace the history of infant baptism, Mr. Wall, as 

,* Page 194. 



232 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM, 

nigh the apostolic times as possible, pray why do you quote 
Justin Martyr, who never mentions it? 

W. Wall. — "Because his is the most ancient account of 
the way of baptizing, next the scripture; and shows the 
plain and simple manner of administering it. Because it 
shows that the Christians of those times (many of whom 
lived in the days of the Apostles) used the word, 'regene- 
ration? (or 'being born again*) for baptism; and that they 
were taught to do so by the Apostles. And because we see 
by it that they understood John iii. 5. of water baptism; 
and so did ail the writers of these 400 years, not one masf 
excepted." — p. 54. 

Did any of the ancients use the word matheteuio (to dis- 
ciple) as it is used in the commission; or did they call the 
baptized discipled? 

W. Wall. — "Justin Martyr, in his second apology to 
Antoninus, uses it. His words are : — 'Several persons among 
us, of sixty and seventy years old, of both sexes, who were 
discipled (matheteuio) to Christ, in or from their childhood? 
do continue uncorrupted.' ) " — p. 54. 

So soon as they began to mysticise, they began to teach 
that immersion without faith, would obtain remission of 
sins, and that immersion without faith was regeneration. 
Then came the debates about original sin: and so soon as 
original sin was proved, then came the necessity of infant 
immersion for the remission of original sin. And so un- 
disputed was the import of baptism for remission, that when 
the Pelagians denied original sin, pressed with the difficulty^ 
"why immerse those who have no sins?" they were pushed 
to invent actual sins for infants; such as their crying, peev- 
ishness, restlessness, &c, on account of which sins they 
supposed that infants might with propriety be immersed, 
though they had no original sin. 

tertullian. 

Tertuilian, the first who mentions infant baptism, flour- 
ished about A. D. 216. He writes against the practice: and 
among his most conclusive arguments against infant immer- 
sion, (for [hen, there was no sprinkling,) he assumes, as a 
fundamental principle not to be questioned, that immersion 
was for the remission of sins; and this being universally 
conceded, he argues as follows: — 

"Our Lord says, indeed, 'Do not forbid them to come to 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 233 

me;' therefore, let them come when they are grown up — let 
them come when they understand — when they are instruct- 
ed whither it is that they come. Let them be made Chris- 
tians when they can know Christ. What need their guilt- 
less age make such haste to the forgiveness of sins? Men 
will proceed more warily in wordly goods; and he that 
should not have earthly goods committed to him, yetshi 11 
have heavenly ! Let them know how to desire this salva- 
tion, that you mav appear to have given to one that askev 
p. 74. 

OEIGEN. 

Origen, though so great a visionary, is, nevertheless- 
-competent witness in any question of fact. And here I 
would again remind the reader, that it is as witnesses m a 
question of fact, and not of opinion, we summon these a - 
cients. It is not to tell their own opinions, nor the reasons 
of them, but to depose what were the views of Christians 
on this institution in their times. There was no controver- 
sy on this subject for more than four hundred years, 
therefore we expect only to find incidental allusions to il 
but these are numerous, and of the most unquestiom 
character. Origen, in his homily upon Luke, says:— 

"Infants are baptized for the forgiveness of their sins, Of 
what sins? Or when have they sinned? Or how can any 
reason of the law, in their case, hold good, but accordin 
that sense that we mentioned even now? (that is) none is 
free from pollution, though his life be but the length of one 
day upon the earth." 

And in another place he says, that— 

"The baptism of the church is given for the forgiveness 
©f sins/' 

And again — 

"if there were nothing in infants that wanted forgive- 
ness and mercy, the grace of baptism would be needless to 
them." 

In another place he says— 

"But in the regeneration, (or new birth,) by the laver, (or 
baptism,) every one that is born again of water and the Spi* 
rit, is clear from pollution: clear (as I may venture to say) 
as by a glass darkly." — p. 82. 

But now let me ask Dr. Wall — Do Gregory Nazianzen, 
Basil, Ambrose, Chrysostom, and St. Austin, concur with 

20* 



234 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM, 

all their predecessors in those views of regeneration and 
remission? 

W. Wall, — "Yes, exactly. J have observed, among the 
several names which the ancients give to baptism, they 
often, by this phrase, Hhe forgiveness of sins? do mean the 
sacrament of baptism."— p. 179. And as for Chrysostorn, 
he expressly says, "Jn baptism, or the spiritual circumcis- 
sion, there is no trouble to be undergone but to throw off the 
load of sins, and to receive pardon for all foregoing offences, 
p. 182. And again; "There is no receiving or having the 
bequeathed inheritance before one is baptized; and none 
can be called a son till he is baptized." — p. 183. 

The controversy about infant baptism and original sin 
were contemporaneous; and just so soon as they decided 
the nature and extent of original sin, baptism for the re- 
mission of sins was given to infants because of this pollu- 
tion, and defended because of the necessity of regeneration 
and forgiveness to salvation; and because immersion was 
universally admitted to be the scriptural regeneration and 
remission. In this way, there is no reasonable doubt, but in- 
fant baptism began; and for convenience sake, as Dr. Wall 
contends, it was substituted by infant sprinkling. 

Unless we were to transcribe all the testimonies of anti- 
quity, one by one, no greater assurance can be given, that 
for more than four hundred years after Christ, ail writers, 
orthodox and heterodox, Pelagius and Austin not excepted, 
concurred in the preceding views. Were 1 to summon 
others — Eusebius, Dupin, Lightfoot, and Hammond, cum 
multis aliis — will depose the same. 

This proposition we will dismiss with the testimony of 
the most renowned of the Bishops of Africa, i extract it 
from a work now generally read, called the "History of 
the Martyrs." It is from the account Cyprian gives of his 
conversion. — p. 317. 

CYPRIAN. 

"While (says he) I lay in darkness and uncertainty, I 
thought on what I had heard of a second birth, proposed by 
the divine goodness; but could not comprehend how a man 
could receive a new life from his being immersed in water* 
cease to be what he was before, and still remain the same 
body. How, said I, can such a change be possible? How 
can he, who is grown old in a worldly way of living, strip 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 235 

himself of his former inclinations and inveterate habits? 
Can he, who has spent his whole time in plenty, and in- 
dulged his appetite without restraint, ever be transformed 
into an example of frugality and sobriety? Or he who has 
always appeared in splendid apparel, stoop to the plain, 
simple, and unornamented dress of the common people? 
It is impossible for a man, who has borne the most honora- 
ble posts, ever tosubmittolead a private and an obscure life: 
or that he who was never seen in public without a crowd of 
attendants, and persons who endeavored to make their for- 
tunes by attending him, should ever bear to be alone. This 
(continues he) was my way of arguing: I thought it was 
impossible for me to leave my former course of life, and the 
habits I was then engaged in, and accustomed to: but no 
sooner did the life-giving water wash the spots off my soul, 
than my heart received the heavenly light of the Holy Spi- 
rit, which transformed me into a new creature; all my diffi- 
culties were cleared, my doubts dissolved, and my darkness 
dispelled. I was then able to do what before seemed im- 
possible; could discern that my former life was earthly and 
sinful, according to the impurity of my birth; but that my 
spiritual birth gave me new ideas and inclinations, and di- 
rected all my views to God." 
Cyprian flourished A. D. 250. 

Prop. XII. — But even the reformed creeds, Episcopalian, 
Peesbyterian, Methodist, and Baptist, substantially avow 
the same views of immersion, though apparently afraid 
to carry them out in faith and practice. 

This proposition will be sustained by an extract from the 
creed of each of these sects. 

EPISCOPALIAN. 

The clergy are ordered before proceeding to baptize, to 
make the following prayer.* 

"Almighty and everlasting God, who of thy great mercy, 
didst save Noah and his family in the Ark from perishing 
by water; and also didst safely lead the children of Israel 
thy people through the Red Sea; figuring thereby the holy 
baptism; and by the baptism of thy well-beloved Son Jesus 



* Common Prayer, p. 165, 



236 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

Christ in the river Jordan, didst sanctify the element of 
water, to the mystical washing away of sin; we beseech 
thee, for thine infinite mercies, that thou wilt mercifully 
iook upon these thy servants; wash them and sanctify them 
with the Holy Ghost; that they being delivered from thy 
wrath, may be received into the Ark of Christ's Church; 
and being steadfast in faith, joyful through hope, and rooted 
in charity, may so pass the waves of this troublesome world, 
that finally they may come to the land of everlasting life; 
there to reign with thee, world without end, through Jesus 
Christ our Lord. Amen" 

After reading a part of the discourse with Nicodemus 
they are ordered to make the following exhortation.* 

a Beioved,ye hear in this gospel the express words of our 
Saviour Christ, that except a man be born of water and 
the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. 
Whereby ye may perceive the great necessity of this sacra- 
ment, where it may be had. Likewise immediately before 
his ascension into heaven, (as we read in the last chapter of 
St. Mark's gospel,) he gave command to his disciples, say- 
ing, Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every 
creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; 
but he that believeth not shall be damned. Which also 
showeth unto us, the great benefit we reap thereby. For 
which cause St, Peter, the Apostle, when upon his first 
preaching of the gospel, many were pricked at the heart, 
and said to him and the rest of the Apostles, Men and 
brethren, what shall we do? replied, and said unto them, 
Repent and be baptized every one of you, for the remission 
of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost: 
for the promise is to you and your children, and to all that 
are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call , 
And with many other words exhorted he them, saying, Save 
yourselves from this untoward generation. For, as the 
same Apostle testifieth in another place, even baptism doth 
also now save us, (not the putting away the filth of the 
flesh, but the answer of a good conscience towards God,) 
by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Doubt ye not, there- 
fore, but earnestly believe, that he will favorably receive 
diese present persons, truly repenting, and coming unto him 
by faith; that he will grant them remission of their sins, and 
bestow upon them the Holy Ghost; that he will give them 

* Page 105. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM, 237 

the blessings of eternal life, and make them partakers of his 
everlasting kingdom." 

This, 1 need not add, is in accordance with the senti- 
ments advanced in this essay. What a pity that the Epis- 
copal Church does not believe and practise her own creed! 

PRESBYTERIAN. 

The Presbyterian Confession, on Baptism, chap, xvviii. 
sect. 1. declares that — 

"Baptism is a sacrament of the New Testament, ordain- 
ed by Jesus Christ, not only for the solemn admission of the 
party baptized into the visible church; but also to be unto 
him a sign and seal of the covenant of grace, of his en- 
grafting into Christ, of regeneration, of remission of sins, 
and of his giving up unto God, through Jesus Christ, to 
walk in newness of life: which sacrament is, by Christ's 
own appointment, to be continued in his church until the 
end of the worlds' 

"A sign and seal of remission of sins! /" This is much 
nigher the truth than this church seems to be apprised of. 
However, she cannot believe her own creed; for she does 
not believe that baptism is a sign and a seal of remission 
of sins, nor of regeneration in her own sense of it, to her 
baptized or sprinkled infants, but in paying any regard to 
the Scriptures, she could not say less than she has said. It 
is no wonder that many sectaries cannot be persuaded to 
think, that the scriptures mean what they say: for they are 
so much accustomed to say what they do not mean, that 
they cannot think God does mean what he says. 

METHODIST. 

The Methodist Creed says— 

"Dearly beloved, forasmuch as all men are conceived and 
born in sin, (and that which is born of the flesh is flesh, 
and they that are in the flesh cannot please God, but live in 
sin, committing many actual transgressions:) and that our 
Saviour Christ, saith, None shall enter into the Kingdom of 
God, except he be regenerate and born anew of water and 
of the Holy Ghost; 1 beseech you to call upon God the 
Father, through our Lord Jesus Christ, that of his boun- 
teous goodness he will grant to these persons, that which by 
nature they cannot have; that they may be baptized with 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM, 

water and the Holy Ghost, and received into Christ's holy 
church, and be made lively members of the same." 

Then it is ordained that the minister say, or repeal the 
allowing prayer: — 

" Almighty and immortal God, the aid of all that need, 
the helper of all that flee to thee for succor, the life of them 
that believes, and the resurrection of the dead: We call 
upon thee for these persons; that they coming to thy holy 
baptism, may receive remission of their sins, by spiritual 
regeneration. Receive them,0 Lord, as thou hast promised 
by thy well beloved Son, saying, Ask and ye shall receive, 
seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto 
you, so give unto us that ask; let us that seek, find; open 
the gate unto us that knock; that these persons may enjoy 
the everlasting benediction of the heavenly washing, and 
may come to the eternal kingdom which thou hast promised 
by Christ our Lord. Amen." — Bis. p. 105. 

Thus the Methodist Creed and Church are nearly as 
scriptural as the church from which they sprang. She 
prays for those to be baptized, that in baptism they may re- 
ceive remission of sins ! Does she believe what she says ? 

BAPTIST. 

Chapter XXX. Section. 1. — "Baptism is an ordinance of 
the New Testament, ordained by Jesus Christ, to be unto 
the party baptized a sign of his fellowship with him in his 
death and resurrection; of his being engrafted into him; of 
remission of sins, and of his giving up unto God, through 
Jesus Christ, to live and walk in newness of life." 

The Baptist follows the Presbyterian church as servilely 
as the Methodist church follows the English hierarchy. But 
she avows her faith that immersion is a sign of remission. 
A sign of tho past, the present, or the future! A sign ac- 
companying! 

The Confession of Bohemia. — "We believe that whatso- 
ever by baptism — is in the outward ceremony signified and 
witnessed, all that doth the Lord God perform inwardly. 
That is, he washeth away sin, begetteth a man again, and 
bestoweth salvation upon him; for the bestowing of these 
excellent fruits was holy baptism given and granted to the 
church." 

The Confession of Augsburg. — "Concerning baptism., 
they teach that it is neeessary to salvation, as a ceremony 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 239 

ordained of Christ: also, by baptism the grace of God is 
offered." 

The Confession of Saxony. — "I baptize thee — that is I 
do witness that by this dipping thy sins be washed away 9 
and that thou art now received of the true God." 

The Confession of Whittenburg.—"We believe and con- 
fess that baptism is that sea, into the bottom whereof, as the 
Prophet saith, God doth cast all our sins." 

The Confession of Helvetia. — "To be baptized in the 
name of Christ, is to be enrolled, entered, and received into 
the covenant and family, and so into the inheritance of the 
sons of God ; that is to say, to be called the sons of God, to 
be purged also from the filthiness of sins, and to be endued 
with the manifold grace of God, for to lead a new and inno- 
cent life." 

The Confession of Sueveland. — "As touching baptism 5 
we confess that it is the font of regeneration, washeth away 
sins and saveth us. But all these things we do understand 
as St. Peter doth interpret them. 1 Peter iii. 21." 

Westminster Assembly. — "Before baptism the minister is 
to use some words of instruction— showing that it is insti- 
tuted by our Lord Jesus Christ; that it is a seal of the cove- 
nant of grace, of our engrafting into Christ, and of our 
union with him, of remission of sins, regeneration, and life 
eternal." 

The Roman Catholic and the Greek church say, "We 
believe in one baptism for the remission of sins." 

Calvin makes remission the principle thing in baptism* 

"Baptism," says he, "resembles a legal instrument pro- 
perly attested, by which he assures us that all our sins are 
cancelled, effaced, and obliterated, so that they will never 
appear in his sight, or come into his remembrance, or be im- 
puted to us. For he commands all, who believe, to be bap- 
tized for the remission of their sins. Therefore, those who 
have imagined that baptism is nothing more than a mark or 
sign by which we profess our religion before men, as soldiers 
wear the insignia of their sovereign as a mark of their pro- 
fession, have not considered that which was the prineipal 
thing in baptism; which is that we ought to receive it with 
this promise — 'He that believeth and is baptized, shall be 
saved.' * 

"The ancient Christian church, from the highest antiquity 9 

• * Inst. !. 4, cxv. p. 327. 



240 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

after the apostolic times, appears generally to have thought 
that baptism is absolutely necessary for all that would be 
saved by the grace of Jesus Christ." 

"Most of the ancients concluded that baptism was no less 
necessary unto salvation than faith or repentance itself."! 

John Wesley, in his comment on the New Testament, 
(page 350,) speaks plainer than either the Methodist Dis- 
cipline or the Regular Baptist Confession. His words are: 
— "Baptism administered to real penitents, is both a means 
and a seal of pardon. Nor did God ordinarily in the prim- 
itive church bestow this (pardon) on any, unless through 
this means." This is almost, if not altogether, as nauch as 
we have said on the forgiveness of sins through immersion, 

May we not say, that we have sustained this last proposi- 
tion to the full extent of the terms thereof? 

With the testimony of John Wesley, the last of the re- 
formers, 1 close my list of human vouchers for the import 
of Christian immersion. This list I could swell greatly^ 
for, indeed, I have been quite disappointed in looking back 
Into creeds, councils, commentators, and reformers, ancient 
and modern. I begin to fear, that I shall be suspected to 
have come to the conclusions which I bave exhibited, from 
consulting human writings, creeds, and reformers. My 
fears are not that we, who plead for reformation, may ap- 
pear to have nothing original to offer in this reformation, 
that we are mere gleaners in the fields which other minds 
have cultivated. It is not on this account our fears are ex- 
cited, for the reformation we plead is not characterized by 
new and original ideas, or human inventions; but by a re- 
turn to the original ideas and institutions developed in the 
New Institution. But we fear lest any should suspect the 
sriews offered, to be a human invention or tradition ; because 
we have found so much countenance for them in the works 
of the most ancient and renowned Christian writers, and the 
creeds of ancient and modern reformers. We can assure 
our readers, however, that we have been led to these conclu- 
sions from the simple perusal, the unprejudiced and impar- 
tial examination of the New Testament alone. And, we 
may add, that we are as much astonished, as any reader of 
this essay can be, to find such a cloud of witnesses to the 
truth and importance of the views offered. 

The propositions now proved, and illustrated, must con- 

,* Vitringa, Tom, I. 50. ii. c 6. 9. f Owen on Justification, e. ii. p. 183, 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 241 

vince all, that there is some connexion between immersion 
and the forgiveness of sins. What that connexion is, may 
be disputed by some: but that such a connexion exists, none 
can dispute, who acknowledge the New Testament to con- 
tain a divine communication to man. With John Wesley 
we say, it is "to the believing the means and seal of pardon 
for all previous offences;" and we not only say we think 
so, but we preach it as such, and practise it as such. 
Those who think of any other connexion, would do well to 
attempt to form clear ideas of what they mean: for we are 
assured there is no meaning in any other connexion. To 
make it a commemorative sign of past remission is an out- 
rage upon all rulos of interpretation, and a perfect anomaly 
in all revelation of God. To make it, prospectively, the 
sign of a future remission, is liable to the same exceptions. 
Nothing remains, but that it be considered, what it is in 
truth — the accompanying sign of an accompanying remis- 
sion; the sign and the seal, or the means and the seal, of 
remission then granted through the water, connected with 
the blood of Jesus, by the divine appointment, and through 
our faith in it. 

We have heard some objections, and we can conceive of 
others which may be presented to immersion for the remis- 
sion of sins. There oan-be objections made to any person, 
doctrine, sentiment, or practice, natural, moral, political, or 
religious, that ever existed. But notwithstanding all the 
objections made to every thing, there are thousands of mat- 
ters arid things we hold to be facts and truths indubitable. 
Amongst these certain and sure things, not to be shaken, is 
this Christian institution. 

We will state and examine some objections partially no- 
ticed already; but, because they are the most common, or 
may become common, we will bestow upon them a formal 
statement and a formal refutation. 

Objection 1. — "To make the attainment and the enjoy- 
ment of present salvation, pardon, justification, sanctifica- 
tion, reconciliation, adoption, dependent upon the contin- 
gency of water being present, or accessible, is beneath the 
dignity and character of a salvation from God." 

And to make the attainment, and the enjoyment of pre- 
sent salvation, pardon, &c. dependent upon the contingency 
of faith, being present or accessible — upon the blood of Je- 
sus Christ being heard of, or known, is equally objectiona- 
ble; — for what is faith but the belief of testimony? Or 

21 



242 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM, 

* nat is it in the most popular sense but something wrought 
in the heart, a compound of knowledge and feeling, of as- 
sent and consent? And are not both blood and faith less 
accessible to mankind than the element of water? How 
much more water than faith, or than candidates for immer- 
sion? And is there not as much power, wisdom, and good- 
ness of God in creating water, as in creating air, words, 
letters, faith, &c? is not water more universal than lan- 
guage, words, books, preachers, faith, &c? This objection 
lies as much against any one means of salvation as another; 
nay against all means of salvatton. Whenever a case shail 
occur of much faith and little water; or of a little faith and 
no water, we will repel it by other arguments than these. 

Objection 2. — "it makes void the value, excellency, and 
importance of both faith and grace." By no means, tf a 
man say, with Paul, we are justified by faith; does it. follow 
that grace is made void? Or, if one say, we are justified by 
grace, does it make the blood of Christ of non-effect? Or, 
if with Paul, a man say we are justified by his blood; does 
it make faith, repentance, and grace of no effect? Nay, 
indeed, this gives to faith its proper place and its due value. 
It makes it the principle of action. It brings us to the 
water, to Christ, and to heaven. But it is a principle of 
action only. It was not Abel's faith in his head, or heart; 
but Abel's faith at the altar, which obtained such reputation 
It was not Enoch's faith in principle, but Enoch's faith in 
his walk with God, which translated him to heaven, it wag 
not Noah's faith in God's promise and threatening; but his 
faith exhibited in building an ark* which saved himself and 
family from the Deluge, and made him an heir of a new 
world, an heir of righteousness. It was not Abraham's 
faith in God's call ; but his going out in obedience to that call, 
that first distinguished him as a pilgrim, and began his re- 
putation. It w r as not faith in God's promise that Jericho 
should fall, but that faith carried out in the blowing of rams 
horns, which laid its walls in ruins, &c. It is not our faith 
in God's promise of remission; but our going down into the 
water; that obtains the remission of sins. But any one may 
see why faith has so much praise, and is of so much value. 
Because, without it, Abel would not have offered more sa- 
crifices than Cain ; Enoch would not have walked with God ; 
Noah would not have built an ark; Abraham would not 
have left Urof theChaldees, nor offered up his son upon the 
altar. Without it, Israel would not have passed through the 



PHE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 243 

wilderness, nor crossed the Jordan; and without it, none re- 
ceive the remission of their sins in immersion. And, again* 
we would remind the reader, that when he talks of being 
saved by faith, he should bear in mind, that grace is not 
lost sight of,- nor blood, nor water, nor reformation, dis- 
carded. 

We enter the kingdom of nature by being born of the 
flesh. We enter the kingdom of heaven, or come under the 
reign of Jesus Christ, in this life, by being born of water, 
and the Spirit. We enter the kingdom of eternal glory by 
being born again from the earth, and neither by faith, nor 
the first regeneration. Neither by faith, nor baptism, but 
by being counted worthy of the resurrection of the jflst 
"I was hungry, and you fed me." Not because yon believed, 
or were born of water; but because "I was hungry, and 
you fed me," &c. 

There are three births, three kingdoms, and three salva- 
tions. One from the womb of our first mother, one from 
the water, and one from the grave. We enter a new world 
on, and not before, each birth. The present animal hie, 
at the first birth ; the spiritual, or the life of God in our souls, 
at the second birth; and the life eternal in the presence of 
God, at the third birth. And he who dreams of entering 
the second kingdom, or coming under the dominion of Jesus, 
without the second birth, may, to complete his error, dream 
of entering the kingdom of glory without a resurrection 
from the dead. 

Grace precedes all these births — shines in all the king- 
doms; but will be glorified in the third. Sense is the prin- 
ciple of action in the first kingdom; faith, in the second; 
and sight spiritual, in the third. The first salvation is that 
of the body from the dangers and ills of life, and God is thiis 
"the Saviour of all men." The second salvation is that of 
the soul from sin. The third is that of both soul and body 
united, delivered from moral and natural corruption, and 
introduced into the presence of God, when God shall be ail 
in all. 

Objection 3. — "It is so uncharitable to the Paidobap- 
tists!" And how uncharitable are the Paidobaptists to 
Jews, Turks, and Pagans! ! Will they promise present sal- 
vation from the guilt, pollution, and the dominion of sin, 
with the well grounded hope of heaven, to Jews, Turks, 
Pagans, or even Roman Catholics? Or will the Roman 
Catholics to them!! How uncharitable are they who cry 



244 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

"uncharitable" to us! Infants, idiots, deaf, and dumb per- 
sons, innocent Pagans wherever they can be found, with all 
the pious Paidobaptists, we commend to the mercy of God, 
But such of them as wilfully despise this salvation, and 
who, having the opportunity to be immersed for the remis- 
sion of their sins, wilfully despise or refuse, we have as lit- 
tle hope for them, as they have for all who refuse salvation 
on their own terms of the gospel. While they inveigh 
against us for laying a scriptural and natural stress upon 
immersion, do we not see that they lay as great, though an 
unscripturai and irrational stress, upon their baptism or 
sprinking; so much so, as to give it without faith, even to 
infants, so soon as they are born of the flesh? 

Objection 4. — "But do not = many of them enjoy the pre- 
sent salvation of God?" How far they may be happy in 
the peace of God, and the hope of heaven, 1 presume not to 
say. And we know so much of human nature as to say, 
that he that imagines himself pardoned, will feel as happy 
as he that is really so. But one thing we do know, that none 
can rationally, and with certainty enjoy the peace of God, 
and the hope of heaven, but they who intelligently, and in 
full faith are born of water, or immersed for the remission 
of their sins. And as the testimony o» God, and not con- 
ceit, imagination, nor our reasoning upon what passes in 
our minds, is the ground of our certainty, we see and feel, 
that we have an assurance which they cannot have. And 
we have this advantage over them; we once stood upon their 
ground, had their hopes, felt their assurance; but they have 
not stood upon our ground, nor felt our assurance. More- 
over, the experience of the first converts shows the differ- 
ence between their immersion, and the immersion, or 
sprinklings, of modern gospels. 

Objection 5. — "This has been so long concealed from the 
people, and so lately brought to our view, that we cannot 
acquiesce in it." 

This objection would have made unavailing every at- 
tempt at reformation, or illumination of the mind, or change 
in the condition and enjoyments of society, ever attempted. 
Besides, do not the experience of all the religious — the ob- 
servation of the intelligent — the practical result of all 
creeds, reformations, and improvements — and the expecta- 
tions, and longings of society, warrant the conclusion that 
either some new revelation, or some new development of 
the revelation of God, must be made, before the hopes and 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 245 

expectations of all true Christians can be realized, or Chris- 
tianity save and reform the nations of this world? We want 
the old gospel back, and sustained by the ancient order of" 
things: and this alone by the blessing of the Divine Spirit, 
is ail that we do want, or can expect, to reform and save 
the world. And if this gospel, as proclaimed and enforced 
on Pentecost, cannot do this, vain are the hopes, and disap- 
pointed must be the expectations of the so called Christian 
world. 

RECAPITULATION. 

As Christian faith rests upon, and Christian practice pro- 
ceeds from, the testimony of God, and not from the reason- 
ings of men • — I will, in this recapitulation, only call up the 
evidences on one single proposition , assumed, sustained, and 
illustrated in the preceding pages; and that is the ninth, 
proposition, as sustained by the apostolic testimony. We 
wish to leave before the mind of the dilligent reader the 
great importance attached to Christian immersion, as pre- 
sented in the Evangelists, the Acts, and the Epistles. 

1. In the Evangelists — It is called the forgiveness of 
dns. Matthew and Mark introduce the Messiah in his own 
person in giving the commission. Luke does not. Mat- 
thew presents Jesus, saying, "Go, convert the nations, im- 
mersing them into the name of the Father, the Son, and 
Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things which I 
have commanded you." This, of course, in order to salva- 
tion. Mark presents him saying, "Go into all the world, 
proclaim the glad tidings to the whole creation; and he who 
believes, and is immersed, shall be saved; but he who be- 
lieves not, shall be condemned." Luke, however, does not 
introduce the Lord in his own person in giving the charge; 
but records it, in his own conception of it, in the following 
words: — That "reformation and forgiveness of sins should 
be announced in his name to all nations, beginning at Jeru- 
salem." No person, we presume, will question but that 
Luke thus records the commission; — and, if so, then it is 
indisputable, that as Luke neither mentions faith nor im- 
mersion, he substitutes for them the received import of both, 
when and where he wrote. Metonymically he places re- 
pentance, or rather reformation, for faith ; and remission of 
sins, for immersion. In Luke's acceptation and time for* 
giveness of sins stood for immersion, and reformation for 

21* 



246 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

faith — the effect for the means or cause. The only refer- 
ence to the commission found in John, occurs xx. 21. "As 
the Father has sent me, so send I you: — whose sins soever 
you remit, are remitted to them ; and whose sins soever you 
retain, are retained." Here is neither faith, repentance, nor 
baptism; but the object, remission of sins, is literally pro- 
posed . In the commission, salvation is attached by the 
Lord Jesus to faith and immersion into his name. He that 
believes and is immersed, shall be saved. Thus immersion 
is taught in the testimonies of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and 
John. 

2. In the Acts of the Apostles — Sermon 1, Peter says, 
"Reform and be immersed, every one of you, in the name 
of the Lord Jesus, for the remission of your sins, and you 
shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." Sermon 2, he 
says, "Reform and be converted, that your sins may be 
blotted out; that seasons of refreshment from the presence 
of the Lord may come, and that he may send Jesus," &c. 
In the same discourse, he says, "God having raised up his 
Son Jesus, has sent him to bless you, every one of you, 
turning from his iniquities." In his 3d Sermon, recorded 
Acts x. he says, "To him all the Prophets bear witness, that 
every one who believes in him shall receive remission of 
sins by his name" Paul at Antioch, in Pisidia, declares, 
that through Jesus was proclaimed the remission of sins; 
and by him all that believe are justified from all things. 
Ananias commanded Paul to arise and be immersed, and to 
wash away his sins, calling upon the name of the Lord. 
Thus it is spoken of in the acts of the Apostles. 

3. In the Epistles — The Romans are said to have been 
immersed into Christ Jesus — into his death; to have been 
buried with him, and consequently to have risen with him, 
and to walk in a new life. The Corinthians are said to 
have been washed, justified, and sanctified by the name of 
the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. The Gala- 
tians "were immersed into Christ, and had put him on." 
The Ephesians were married to Christ, by immersion, as 
brides were wont to be washed in order to their nuptials. 
The assembly of the disciples, called the congregration of 
the Lord, making the bride of Christ, were said to be 
cleansed by the bath of water and the word. The Colos- 
sians were buried with Christ, raised with him, and are said 
to have been forgiven all trespasses, when they were raised 
with him, where their resurrection with Jesus and their 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 247 

having all sins forgiven are connected.* All the saints are 
said to be saved by immersion, or, "the washing of regener- 
ation and the renewing of the Holy Spirit."t The believ- 
i ng Jews had their hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, 
and their bodies washed with clean water, or water which 
made clean. Peter taught all the saints in Pontus, Gala- 
tia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, that the water of bap- 
tism saved them, as the water of the deluge saved Noah in 
the ark; and that in immersion a person was purged from 
all his former sins. And John the Apostle represents the 
saved as having "washed their robes and made them white 
in the blood of the Lamb," and all the baptized little chil- 
dren as "having their sins forgiven." Such are the eviden- 
ces found in the Epistles. How numerous! how clear! and 
how unequivocal! Are we not, then, warranted to say. 
Except a man be regenerated of water, and of the Spirit, 
he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God ? and that all who, 
believing, are immersed for the remission of their sins, have 
the remission of their sins in and through immersion? 

CONCLUSION. 

A word to the regenerated. — You have experienced the 
truth of the promise; and being introduced by that promise, 
you have become like Isaac, children of promise. You 
heard the testimony of God concerning Jesus of Nazareth, 
and you believed it. You were, in consequence of your 
faith, so disposed towards the person of Jesus, as to be wil- 
ling to put yourselves under his guidance. This faith, and 
this will, brought you to the water. You were not ashamed, 
nor afraid to confess him before men. You solemnly de- 
clared you regarded him as God's only Son, and the Saviour 
of men. You vowed allegiance to him. Down into the 
water you were led. Then the name of the Holy One upon 
your faith, and upon your person 9 was pronounced. You 
were then buried in the water under that name. It closed 
itself upon you. In its womb you were concealed. Into 
the Lord, as in the water, you were immersed. But in the 
water you continued not. Of it you were born, and from 
it you came forth, raised with Jesus, and rising in his 
strength. There your consciences were released; for there 
your old sins were washed away. And although you re- 

* Colossiansii. 11,13, 14. t Titusiii,5. 



248 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

ceived nol the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which confirmed the 
testimony to the first disciples, you felt the powers of the 
world to come, were enlightened, and tasted the bounty of 
God : for seasons of refreshment from the presence of God 
came upon you. Your hearts were sprinkled from evil con- 
sciences, when your bodies were washed in the cleansing 
water. Then into the kingdom of Jesus you entered. The 
King of righteousness, of peace, and joy, extended his 
sceptre over you, and sanctified in state, and in your whole 
person, you rejoiced in the Lord with joy unspeakable and 
lull of glory. Being washed, you were sanctified, as well 
as acquitted. And now you find yourselves under the great 
Advocate, so that sin cannot lord it over you; for you al- 
ways look to the great Advocate to intercede for you; ard 
thus, if sin should overtake you, you confess and forsake it, 
and always find mercy. Adopted thus into the family of 
God, you have not only received the name, the rank, and 
the dignity; but also the spirit of a son of God, and find, as 
such, that you are kings, priests, and heirs of God. You now 
feel that all things are yours, because you are Christ's; and 
Christ is God's. The hope of the coming regeneration of 
the heavens and the earth, at the resurrection of the just, 
animates you. You look for the redemption, the adoption 
of your bodies, and their transfiguration. For this reason, 
you purify yourselves even as he is pure. Be zealous, then, 
children of God; publish the excellencies of him, who has 
called you into this marvellous light and bliss. Be dili- 
gent, that you may receive the crown that never fades, and 
that you may eat of the tree of life, which grows in the 
midst of the Paradise of God. If you suffer with Jesus, 
you will reign with him. 1£ you should deny him, he will 
deny you. Add, then, to your faith, courage, knowledge, 
temperance, patience, brotherly kindness, and universal 
benevolence; for if you continue in these things and 
abound, you shall not be barren nor unfruitful in the know- 
ledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. But should 
you be deficient in these things, your light will be obscur- 
ed, and a forgetful ness that you have been purified from 
your old sins, will come upon you. Do, then, brethren, 
labor to make your calling and election sure: for thus prac- 
tising, you shall never fall; but shall have an easy and 
abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord 
and Saviour Jesus Christ. 

A word to the unregenerate. — Amongst you are sundry 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 249 

classes of character. Some of you who believe the gospel, 
and are changed in heart, quickened by the Spirit, are not 
generally ranked among the unregenerate. In the popular 
sense of this term you are regenerate. But we use it in 
its scriptural acceptation. Like Nicodemus, and like Jo- 
seph of Arimathea, you believe in Jesus, and are willing to 
take lessons from him in the chambers. You have confi- 
dence in his mission, respect and venerate, and even love 
his person; and would desire to be under his government. 
Marvel not that I say to you, You must be born again. 
Pious as you are supposed to be, and as you may think your- 
selves to be, unless you are born again, you cannot enter 
into the Kingdom of God. Cornelius and his family were 
as devout and pious as any of you. "He feared God, 
gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God continu- 
ally." Yet, mark it well, I beseech you, it was neces- 
sary, Ho tell him words by which himself and his house 
might be saved" These words were told him: he believed 
them, and received the Holy Spirit, yet still he must be 
born again. For a person cannot be said to be born again 
of any thing which he receives; and still less of miraculous 
gifts of the Holy Spirit. He was immersed, and into the 
Kingdom of God he came. He was then saved. You need 
not ask, how or why these things are so. Do as Cornelius 
did, and then you will think of it in another light — then 
you would not for the world be unregenerate. To have the 
pledge, the promise, and seal of God, of the remission of 
all his sins, to be adopted into his family, and to receive 
the spirit of a son of God, be assured, my pious friends, are 
matters of no every day occurrence; and when you feel 
yourselves constitutionally invested with all these blessings, 
in God's own way, you will say, that "his ways are not as 
our ways, nor his thoughts as our thoughts; for as the 
heavens are higher than the earth, so are his ways higher 
than our ways, and his thoughts than our thoughts." It is 
hard to make a slave feel and act as a freeman. As diffi- 
cult, we often find it, to make the unregenerate feel and 
know the value and importance of regeneration. But the 
regenerate would not be unregenerate for the universe. 

God has one way of bestowing every thing. We cannot 
gather grapes off thorns, nor figs off thistles. The reason 
is, there they do not grow. We can tell no other reason 
why they cannot grow there, but that they do not grow 
there. We cannot have any blessing, but in God's own 



250 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM, 

way of giving it. We cannot find wool save on the back 
of the sbeep, nor silk save from the worm which spins it 
from itself. Corn and wheat cannot be obtained save from 
those plants which yield them. Without the plant, we can- 
not have the fruit. This is the economy of the whole ma- 
terial system. And in the world of spirits, and spiritual 
influences, is it not the same? Moral law is as unchange- 
able as the laws of nature. Moral mean3 and ends are as 
inseparable as natural means and ends. God cannot be- 
stow grace upon the proud, and cannot withhold it from the 
humble. He does not do it, and that is enough. He could 
shower down wheat and corn, and give us rivers of milk 
and wine, were it a question of mere power. But taking 
all together, his wisdom, power and goodness, he cannot do 
it. So neither can he give us faith without testimony, hope 
without a promise, love without an amiable object, peace 
without purity, nor heaven without holiness. He cannot 
give to the unborn infant the light of the sun, the vivacity 
which the air imparts, nor the agility and activity which 
liberty bestows. He does not do it, and, therefore, we say, 
he cannot do it. Neither can he bestow the blessings of 
the Reign of Heaven upon those, who are children of dis- 
obedience. 

I know how reluctant men are to submit to God's govern- 
ment,- and yet they must all bow to it at last. "To Jesus 
every knee shall bow, and to him every tongue confess." 
But they will object to bowing now, and torture invention 
for excuses. They will tell me, all that I have said is true 
of natural and moral means and ends; but immersion is 
not a moral means, because God forgave sins and saved 
men before immersion was appointed." "It is a positive, and 
not a moral institution." And is there no moral influence 
connected with positive institutions? A written law is a 
positive institution: for moral law existed before written 
law. But because it has become a positive institution, has 
its moral power ceased? The moral influence of all posi- 
tive institutions, is GooVs will expressed in them. And it 
matters not, whether it be the eating or not eating of an 
apple, the building of an altar, or the building it with, or 
without the aid of iron tools; the offering of a kid, a lamb, 
a bullock, or a pigeon, it is just as morally binding, and 
has the same moral influence, as "You shall honor your 
father and mother;" or "You shall not kill." It is the will 
of god in any institution, which gives it all its moral and 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 251 

physical power. No man could now be pardoned as Abel 
was — as Enoch was — as David was — as the thief upon the 
cross was. These all lived before the second will of God 
was declared. He took away "the first will" says Paul, 
"that he might establish the second will" by which we are 
sanctified. We are not pardoned as were the Jews or the 
Patriarchs. It was not tiil Jesus was buried and rose again, 
that an acceptable offering for sin was presented in the 
heavens. By one offering up of himself, he has perfected 
the conscience of the immersed or sanctified. Since his 
oblation, a new institution for remission has been appoint- 
ed. You need not flatter yourselves, that God will save or 
pardon you except for Christ's sake; and if his name is 
not assumed by you, if you have not put him on, if you 
have not come under his advocacy, you have not the name 
of Christ to plead, nor his intercession on your behalf — 
and therefore, for Christ's sake you cnnnot be forgiven, 
Could Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Aaron, think 
you, if living now — could they, I ask, find forgiveness at 
the altar? And will you imagine, that he, who honored 
every institution by Moses, by connecting rewards and pun- 
ishments with the obedience or disobedience of his com- 
mands, be less jealous for the honor of the institution of his 
Son? And will that Son who for no other purpose than to 
honor his Father's institution, was immersed in the Jordan, 
bestow pardon or salvation upon any, who refuse to honor 
him, and him that sent him? He has been graciously 
pleased to adapt means to ends. He has commanded im- 
mersion for the remission of sins; and, think you, that he 
will change his institution, because of your stubborn or in- 
tractible dispositions? As well, as reasonably might you 
pray for loaves from heaven, or manna, because Israel eat 
it in the desert; as to pray for pardon, while you refuse the 
remission of sins by immersion. 

Demur not because of the simplicity of the thing. Re- 
member how simple was the eating of the fruit of that tree, 
"whose mortal taste brought death into the world, and all 
our woe." How simple was the rod in the hand of Moses, 
when stretched over Egypt and the Red Sea? How simple 
was looking at the brazen serpent? And how simple are 
all God's institutions? How simple the aliments of nature; 
— the poisons too, and their remedies? Where the will of 
God is, there is omnipotence. It was simple to speak the uni- 
verse into existence. But God's will gives efficacy to every 



252 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 



thing. And obedience ever was, and ever will be the hap- 
piness of man. It is the happiness of heaven. It is God's 
philanthropy which has given us something to obey. To 
the angels who sinned he has given no command. It was 
gracious to give us a command to live — a command to re- 
form—a command to be born again — to live forever. Re- 
member light and life first came by obedience. If God's 
voice had not been obeyed, the water would not have 
brought forth the earth, nor would the son have blessed it 
by his rays. The obedience of law was goodness and mer- 
cy; but the obedience of faith is favor, and life, and glory 
everlasting. None to whom this gospel is announced will 
perish, except those who know not God, and obey not the 
gospel of his Son. Kiss, then, the Son, lest he be angry, 
and you perish for ever. 

To the unregenerate of all classes, whose education arid 
prejudices compel them to assent to the testimony of Mat- 
thew, Mark, J <uke, John, Paul, Peter, James, and Jude. — 
You own the mission of Jesus from the bosom of the Eter- 
nal — and that is all you do! Each of you is living without 
God, and without hope in the world — aliens from the family 
of God — of various ranks and grades among men; but all 
involved in one condemnation, because light has come into 
the world, and you love darkness, and the works of dark- 
ness, rather than light. To live without hope, is bad 
enough; but to live in constant dread of the vengeance of 
Heaven, is still worse. But do you not tremble at the word 
of God? 

If you can be saved here, or hereafter, then there is no 
meaning in language, no pain in the universe, no truth in 
God —death, the grave, and destruction have no meaning. 
The frowns of Heaven are all smiles, if you perish not in 
your ways. 

But you purpose to bow to Jesus, and to throw yourselves 
upon his mercy at last. Impious thought! When you have 
given the strength of your intellect, the vigor of your con- 
stitution, the warmth of your affections, the best energies of 
your life, to the world, the flesh and the devil; you will 
stretch out your palsied hands and turn your dim eyes to 
the Lord and say, "Lord have mercy upon me!" The first 
fruits, and fatlings for the devil, the lame and the blind for 
God, is the purpose of your heart; and the best resolution 
you can form ! 

The thief upon the cross, had he done so, could not have 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 253 

found mercy. It is one thing to have known the way of 
salvation, assented to it, and to have in deliberate resolu- 
tion rejected it for the present, with a promise of obeying it 
at some future period; and to have never known it, nor as- 
sented to it, to the end of life. Promise not, then, to your- 
selves, what has never happened to others. The devil has 
always said, "You may give to morrow to the Lord — only 
give to me to-day. This has been all that he has asked, 
and this is what you are disposed to give. Promise not 
to-morrow to the Lord, for you will be still less disposed to 
give it when it comes; and the Lord has not asked you for 
to-morrow. He says, to-day, when you shall hear his voice, 
harden not your hearts. But you say, you are willing to 
come to the Lord to day if you knew the way, or if you were 
prepared! Well, what does the Lord require of you as 
preparation? He once said, "Let the wicked man forsake 
his ways, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let 
him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; 
and to our God for he will abundantly pardon." He says 
also, "Draw nigh to me, and I will draw nigh to you;" 
"Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, 
you men of two souls;" "Wash you, make you clean; put 
away the evil of your doings;" "Reform and be converted;" 
"Turn to the Lord;""Be immersed for the remission of your 
sins;" and "Submit to the government of Jesus." "What! 
just as I am!" Pray, how are you? Have you such a per- 
suasion in your heart of the mission of Jesus, as God's own 
Son, and the only Saviour; and have you so much confi- 
dence in his personal character, as to be willing to surren- 
der yourself to him for the present and future — for time and 
eternity? "I have," you say. As one that has heard his 
voice, I say then, Come and be regenerated, and seasons 
of refreshment from the Lord will come to you. 

"But I thought 1 ought to feel like a Christian first, and 
to have the experience of a Christian before I came to the 
Lord." Indeed! Did the Lord tell you so? "His ministers 
taught me so." It is hard knowing who are his ministers 
Row-a-days. His commissioned ministers taught you not 
so. They were not taught to say so. The Master knew 
that to wait for health before we went to the physician — to 
seek for warmth before we approached the fire — to wait till 
we ceased to be hungry before we approached the table — 
was not reasonable. And therefore he never asked, as he 
never expected, any one to feel like a Christian before he was 

22 



254 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

immersed, and began to live like a Christian. None but 
the citizens of any country can experience the good or evil 
of the government which presides over it. None but the 
married can experience the conjugal relation and feelings. 
None but sons and daughters can have the experience of 
sons and daughters; and none but those who obey the gos- 
pel, can experience the sweets of obedience. I need not 
add, that none but the disobedient can experience the pains, 
the fears, and terrors of the Lord — the shame and remorse 
which are the first fruits of the anguish and misery, which 
await them in another world. As the disobedient, who 
stumble at the w r ord have the first fruits of the awful de- 
struction from the presence of the Lord which awaits them; 
so the obedient have the first fruits of the Spirit — the salva- 
tion of their souls, as an earnest of the salvation to be re- 
vealed at the coming of the Lord. 

And now let me ask all the unregenerate, What do you 
propose to yourselves by either delaying or refusing to come 
to the Lord? Will delaying have any tendency to fit you 
or prepare you for his salvation? Will your lusts have less 
power, or sin have less dominion over you, by continuing 
under their control? Has the intoxicating cup, by indul- 
gence, diminished a taste for it? Has the avarice of the 
miser been weakened, or cured, by yielding to it? Has 
any propensity been destroyed by gratifying it, in any other 
way than as it destroyed the animal system? Can you, 
then, promise yourselves that, by continuing in disobedi- 
ence, you will love obedience, and be more inclined to sub- 
mit when you have longer resisted the Spirit of God! Pre- 
sume not on the mercy of God, but in the way that mercy 
flows. Grace has its channels, as the waters have their 
courses; and its path, as the lightning of the clouds. Each 
has its law, as fixed as the throne of God; and think not. 
that God will work a miracle for your salvation. 

Think you that the family of Noah could have been saved, 
if they had refused to enter into the Ark? Could the first 
born of Israel have escaped the destroying angel, but in 
houses sprinkled with blood? or could Israel have escaped 
the wrath of Pharaoh, but by being immersed into Moses 
in the cloud and in the sea? These things are written for 
our admonition, upon whom the consummation of past ages 
has come. Arise, then, and be immersed, and wash away 
your sins, calling upon the name of the Lord. The many 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 255 

who refuse grace, will neither prove you wise nor safe in 
disobedience. 



"Multitudes are no mark 

That you will right b* found; 
A few were saved in the Ark, 

For many millions drown'd. 
Obey the gospel call, 

And enter while you may: 
Christ's flock have long been small, 

Yet none are safe but they!" 



EFFECTS OF MODERN CHRISTIANITY.* 

Our greatest objection to the systems which we oppose, is 
their impotency on the heart. Alas! what multitudes of 
prayerless, saintless, Christless, joyless hearts, have crowd- 
ed Christianity out of the congregations by their experien- 
ces before baptism! They seem to have had all their reli- 
gion before they professed it. They can relate no experience 
since baptism, comparable to that professed before the "mu- 
tual pledge" was tendered and received. 

It was the indubitable proofs of the superabundance of 
this fruit, which caused me first to suspect the far-famed 
tree of evangelical orthodoxy. The cold-heartedness — that 
stiff and mercenary formality — that tithing of mint, anise, 
and dill — that negligence of mercy, justice, truth, and the 
love of God, which stalked through the communions of sec- 
tarian altars — that apathy and indifference about "thus saiih 
the Lord" — that zeal for human prescriptions — and, above 
all, that willing ignorance of the sayings and doings of Je- 
sus Christ and his apostles, which so generally appeared, 
first of all created, fostered, and matured my distrust in the 
reformed systems of evangelical sectaries. Communion, 
with me, was communion of kindred souls, immersed into 
one God, that celestial magnet, which turns our aspirations 
and adorations to him who washed us from our sins in his 
own blood, and made us kings and priests to God. 

To sit in the same pew; to gather round the same pulpit; 
to put our names to the same covenant, or subscription list: 
to contribute for a weekly sermon ; to lisp the same opinions, 
extracted from the same creed, always appeared to me un- 

* A second Essay called the "Extra Defended," on this same subject, in reply 
to a pamphlet from Elder Andrew Broaddus, of Virginia, titled the "Extra Exam- 
ined," appeared in October 1831. From our Defence, we here insert only four ex- 
tracts. The subject as defended, being fully expressed in the preceding essay* 



256 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

worthy bonds of union or communion, and therefore my 
soul abhorred them as substitutes for the love of God shed 
abroad in the heart, for the communion of the Holy Spirit. 
"If a man would give all the substance of his house as a 
substitute for love, it should be utterly contemned." 

The Divine Philosopher preached reformation by address- 
ing himself to the heart. We begin with the heart. "Make 
the tree good," and then good fruit may be expected. But 
this appears to be the error of all sects in a greater or less 
degree: they set about mending the heart, as preliminary to 
that which alone can create a new heart. Jesus gives us 
the philosophy of his scheme in an address to a sinner of 
that time — a Your sins," says he, "are forgiven you; go, and 
sin no more." He first changes the sinner's state, not ex- 
ternal but internal, and then says, "Go y and sin no moreP 
He frankly forgave the debt. The sinner loved him. 

There was much of this philosophy in the question, "Who 
loves most — he that was forgiven five hundred pence, or he 
that was forgiven fifty ? How much does he love who is not 
forgiven at all?" Aye, that question brings us onward a 
little to the reason why the first act of obedience to Jesus 
Christ should be baptism into his name, and that for the re- 
mission of sins. 

But now we speak of the exercises of the heart. While 
any man believes the words of Jesus, "Out of the heart pro- 
ceed the actions which defile the man," he can never lose 
sight of the heart, as the object on which all evangelical 
arguments are to terminate, and as the fons et principium* 
the fountain and origin of all piety and humanity. 

Once for all, let it be distinctly noted, that we appreciate 
nothing in religion which tends not directly and immediate- 
ly, proximately, and remotely, to the purification and perfec- 
tion of the heart. Paul acts the philosopher fully once, and, 
if we recollect right, but once in all his writings upon this 
subject. It has been for many years a favorite topic with 
me. It is in his first epistle to Timothy — "Now the end of 
the commandment [or gospel] is love out of a pure heart — 
out of a good conscience — out of faith unfeigned," Faith 
unfeigned brings a person to remission, or to a good consci- 
ence; a good conscience precedes, in the order of nature, a 
pure heart; and that is the only soil in which love, that plant 
of celestial origin, can grow. This is our philosophy of 
Christianity — of the gospel. And thus it is the wisdom and 
power of God to salvation. W T e proceed upon these as our 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 257 

axiomata in all our reasonings, preachings, writings — 1st. 
unfeigned faith; 2d. a good conscience; 3d. a pure heart; 
4th. love. The testimony of God apprehended produces un- 
feigned or genuine faith; faith obeyed, produces a good con- 
science. This Peter defines to be the use of baptism, the 
answer of a good conscience. This produces a pure heart, 
and then the consummation is love — love to God and man. 
Paul's order or arrangement is adopted by us as infallible 
Testimony — faith unfeigned — remission, or a good consci- 
ence — a pure heart — love. Preaching, praying, singing, 
commemorating, meditating, all issue here. "Happy the 
pure in heart, for they shall see God." 

IMMERSION NOT A MERE BODILY ACT. 

Views of baptism, as a mere external and bodily act ; 
exert a very injurious influence on the understanding and 
practice of men. Hence, many ascribe to it so little im- 
portance in the Christian economy. "Bodily exercise," says 
Paul, "profits little." We have been taught to regard im- 
mersion in water, into the name of the Father, the Son, and 
the Holy Spirit, as an act of the whole man; — body, soul, 
and Spirit. The soul of the intelligent subject is as fully 
immersed into the Lord Jesus, as his body is immersed in 
the water. His soul rises with the Lord Jesus, as his body 
rises out of the water; and into one spirit with all the fam- 
ily of God is he immersed. It is not like circumcising a 
Hebrew infant or proselyting to Moses a Gentile adult.— 
The candidate believing in the person, mission, and cha- 
racter of the Son of God, and willing to submit to him, im- 
mediately, upon recognizing him, hastens to be burried with 
" the Lord, and to rise with him, not corporally but spirit- 
ually, with his whole soul. 

Reader, be admonished how you speak of bodily acts in 
obedience to divine institutions. Remember Eve, Adam, 
and all transgressors on the one hand. Remember Abel, 
Noah, Enoch, Moses, Abraham, down to the harlot Rahab, 
on the other; and be cautious how you speak of bodily acts! 
Rather remember the sacrifice of a body on mount Cal- 
vary, and talk not lightly of bodily acts. There is no such 
thing as outward bodily acts in the Christian institution ; 
and less than in all others, in the act of immersion. Then 
it is that the spirit, soul, and body of man become one 
with the Lord. Then it is that the power of the name of 

22* 



258 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, come upon us. Then it is 
that we are enrolled among the children of God, and enter 
the ark, which will, if we abide in it, transport us to the 
Mount of God. 

JUSTIFICATION ASCRIBED TO SEVEN CAUSES. 

In examining the New Testament, we find that a man is 
said to be ''justified by faith? Rom. v. I ; Gal. ii. 16, iii. 24. 
"Justified freely by his grace? Rom. iii. 24; Titus iii. 7, 
"Justified by his blood? Rom, v. 9. "Justified by works? 
James ii. 21, 24, 25. "Justified' in or by the name of the 
Lord Jesus? 1 Cor. vi. 1 1. "Justified by Christ? Gal. ii. 16. 
"Justified by knowledge? Is. liii. 11. "It is God that justi- 
fies," Rom. iii. 33, viz: by these seven means — by Christ, 
his name, his blood, by knowledge, grace, faith, and by works. 
Are these all literal? Is there no room for interpretation here? 
He that selects faith out of seven, must either act arbitrari- 
ly, or show his reason ; but the reason does not appear in the 
text. Be must reason it out; he must infer it. Why, then, 
assume that faith alone is the reason of our justification? 
Why not assume that the name of the Lord alone is the 
great matter, seeing this name, "is the only name given 
under heaven, by which any man can be saved;" and men 
"who believe, receive the remission of sins by his name?* 
and especially, because the name of Jesus, or of the Lord, 
is more frequently mentioned in the New Testament, in re- 
ference to all spiritual blessings than any thing else!! Cali 
all these causes, or means of justification, and what then? 
We have the grace of God for the moving cause, Jesus 
Christ for the efficient cause, his blood the procuring cause, 
knowledge the disposing cause, the name of the Lord the im- 
mediate cause, faith the formal cause, and works for the 
concurring cause. For example: a gentlemen on the sea 
shore descries the wreck of a vessel at some distance from 
land, driving out into the ocean, and covered with a miserable 
and perishing sea-drenched crew. Moved by pure philanthro- 
py, he sends his son with a boat to save them. When the 
boat arrives at the wreck, he invites them in, upon this con- 
dition, that they submit to his guidance. A number of the 
crew stretch out their arms, and seizing the boat with their 
hands, spring into it, take hold of the oars, and row to land, 

* Acts x.43. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 259 

while some, from cowardice, and others because of some 
difficulty in coming at the boat, wait in expectation of a 
second trip; but before it returned, the wreck went to pie- 
ces, and they all perished. The moving cause of their sal- 
vation who escaped, was the good will of the gentleman on 
the shore; the son who took the boat, was the efficient cause; 
the boat itself, the procuring cause; the knowledge of their 
perishing condition and his invitation, the disposing cause; 
the siezing the boat with their hands, and springing into it, 
the immediate cause; their consenting to his condition, the 
formal cause; and their rowing to shore, under the guidance 
of his son, was the concurring cause of their salvation. — 
Thus men are justified or saved by grace, by Christ, by his 
blood, by faith, by knowledge, by the name of the Lord, and 
by works. But of the seven causes, three of which are 
purely instrumental, why choose one of the instrumental, 
and emphasize upon it as the justifying or saving cause, to 
the exclusion of, or in preference to the others? Every one 
in its own place is essentially necessary. 

if we examine the word saved in the New Testament, 
we shall find that we are said to be saved by as many 
causes, though some of them differently denominated, as 
those by which we are said to be justified. let us see: we 
are said to be "saved by grace," Eph. ii. 5; "saved through 
his life," Rom. v. 9, 10; "saved through faith," Eph. ii. 8, 
Acts xvi. 31; "saved by baptism," I Peter iii. 21; or "by 
faith and baptism," Mark xvi. 16; or -'by the washing of 
regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit." Titus iii. 5; 
or "by the gospel," I Cor. xv. 2; or "by calling upon the 
Lord," and by "enduring to the end,' 1 Acts ii. 21, Rom. x. 
13, Matt. x. 22. Here we have salvation ascribed to grace, 
to Jesus Christ, to his death and resurrection — three times 
to baptism, either by itself or in conjunction, once with 
faith and once with the Holy Spirit; to works, or to call- 
ing upon the Lord, or to enduring to the end. To these 
we might add other phrases nearly similar, but these in- 
clude all the causes to which we have just now alluded. 
Saved by grace the moving cause; by Jesus the efficient 
cause; by his death, and resurrection, and life, the procur- 
ing cause; by the gospel, the disposing cause ; by faith, the 
formal cause; by baptism, the immediate cause; and by 
enduring to the end, or persevering in the Lord, the concur-^ 
ring cause. 



260 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 



PETER IN JERUSALEM, AND PAUL IN P1IILIPPI, 
RECONCILED. 

Thousands ask Peter, What shall we do? The Jailor 
asks Paul, What shall 1 do? to be saved, if the reader 
pleases. Peter says, Reform and be baptized every one of 
you, &c. Paul answers, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, 
and thou shalt be saved, with thy family." How is this, 
Paul and Peter? Why do you not preach the same gospel, 
and answer the same question in the same or similar terms? 
Paul, do you preach another gospel to the Gentiles, than 
that Peter preached to the Jews? What sayest thou, Paul? 
Paul replies — "Strike, but hear me. Had 1 been in Jerusa- 
lem on the day of Pentecost, 1 would have spoken as Peter 
did. Peter spoke to believing and penitent Jews; I spoke 
to an ignorant Roman jailor. I arrested his attention after 
the earthquake, by simply announcing that there was salva- 
tion to him and all his family, through belief in Jesus."— 
But why did you not mention repentance, baptism, the Holy 
Spirit? "Who told you 1 did not?" Luke says nothing 
about it; and I concluded you said nothing about them. — 
Luke was a faithful historian, was he not? "Yes, very faith- 
ful : and why did you not faithfully hearken to his account? 
Does he not immediately subjoin that as soon as I got the 
jailor's ear, I spoke the word of the Lord to him, and to all 
that were in his house? Why you reason like a Paidobap- 
tist. You think, do you, that the jailor's children were saved 
by his faith ! I spoke the whole gospel, or word of the Lord 
to the jailor and to his family. In speaking the word of the 
Lord, I mentioned repentance, baptism, remission, the Holy 
Spirit, the resurrection, judgment and eternal life: else why 
should I have baptized him and all his house; and why 
should he have rejoiced afterwards with all his family!" 
Paul, i beg your pardon. I will not now interrogate Peter, 
for I know how he will answer me: he would say — "Had I 
been in Phiiippi, I would have spoken to an ignorant Pagan 
as Paul did, to show that salvation flowed through faith in 
Jesus; and when he believed this and repented, I would then 
have said, Be baptized for the remission of your sins." 



I 



Regeneration* 



"1 create New Heavens and a New Earth." 

Isaiah Irv. 18. 

"Behold I make^all things new." Revelation xxi. 5. 



We intend an essay full of "the seeds of things." The 
topic is a common one, a familiar one, and yet it is an in- 
teresting one. Much has been said, much has been written 
upon it; and yet it is no better understood than it ought to 
be. Few give themselves the trouble of thinking much on 
the things which they think they understand; and many 
would rather follow the thoughts of others, than think for 
themselves. Suspense is painful, much study is a weari- 
ness of the flesh; and, therefore, the majority are content 
with the views and opinions handed to them frem those who 
have gone before. 

We wish to treat this subject as if it were a new one; and 
to examine it now, as if we had never. examined it before. It 
is worthy of it. Generation is full of wonders, for it is full 
of God's physical grandeur; yet regeneration is still more 
admirable, for in it the moral attributes of Jehovah are dis- 
played. But we aim not at a development of its wonders, 
but at a plain common-sense scriptural exposition of its im- 
port. 

We have not learned our theology from Athanasius, nor 
our morality from Seneca; and, therefore, we shall not call 
upon them for illustration, argument, or proof. To the Sa- 
cred Records, in which alone Christianity yet remains in 
all its freshness, we look for light; and thither would we 
direct the eyes of our readers. It is not the regeneration 
of the schools in which Christianity has been lowered, mis- 
apprehended, obscured and adulterated, of w 7 hich we are to 
write; but that regeneration of which Jesus spoke, and the 
Apostles wrote. 

A few things must be promised — a few general views ex- 
pressed, before we, or our readers, are prepared for the more 



202 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

minute details: and to approach the subject with all unce* 
remonious despatch, we observe, that — 

Man unregenerate is ruined in body, soul, and spirit; a 
frail and mortal creature. From Adam his father he inher- 
its a shattered constitution. He is the child of a fallen pro- 
genitor; a scion from a degenerate stock. 

Superior to Adam, the exile from Eden, in physical, in- 
tellectual, and moral nature, none of his descendants can 
rise. It is not in nature to improve itself; for above its 
fountain the stream cannot rise. Cain, the first born of 
Eve, was in nature the image and likeness of him that be- 
gat him. Education failed to improve him, while Abel, his 
younger brother, obtained the excellency which faith in 
God's promise alone bestows. The first born, it will be con- 
ceded, was at least equal to his younger brother: and who 
can plead that in nature he excels Eve's eldest son ! 

Man in his ruins is, however, a proper subject of a reme- 
dial system. He is susceptible of renovation. Therefore 
God has placed him under a regenerating economy. This 
economy contemplates the regeneration of the whole human 
constitution, and proposes as its consummation the transfor- 
mation of spirit, soul, and body. The destiny of the re- 
generate is described by Paul in one sentence: "As we now 
bear the image of the earthly Adam, we shall then bear the 
image of the heavenly Adam." 

God's own Son is proposed as the model. Conformity to 
him in glory, honor, and immortality, as the perfection of 
the regenerate, is the predestination of him who speaks of 
things that are not, as though they were. 

Regeneration is, therefore, moral and physical : or, in 
other words, there is now a renovation of the mind — of the 
understanding, will, and affections; — and there will here- 
after be a renovation of the body : "For this corruptible body 
shall putonincorruption, and this mortal body shall put on 
immortality." 

The renovation of the mind and character is, therefore, 
that moral regeneration which is to be effected in this life; 
for which the remedial system, or kingdom of heaven, was 
set up on earth; and this, therefore, first of all, demands our 
attention. 

Before we atempt an answer in detail to the question, 
How is this moral regeneration effected? we shall attend to 
the principle on which the whole remedial system proceeds. 
The grand principle, or means which God has adopted for 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 263 

the accomplishment of this moral regeneration, is the full 
demonstration and proof of a single proposition addressed 
to the reason of man. This sublime proposition is, that 
God is love. 

The reason and wisdom of this procedure will suggest 
itself to every one, who can understand the views and feel- 
ings of all unregenerated men. Man in a state of aliena- 
tion and rebellion, naturally suspects, that if he be a sinner, 
and if God hate sin, he must hate him. As love begets 
love; so hatred begets hatred; and if a sinner suspects that 
God hates him, he cannot love God. He must know that 
God loves him, before he can begin to love God. "We," 
says an Apostle, "love God because he first loved us."" — 
While alienated in heart, through the native darkness of 
his understanding, the sinner misinterprets every restraint 
which God has placed in his way to prevent his total ruin, 
as indications of the wrath of Heaven. His transgression 
of these restraints, and his consciousness of having defied 
the veracity and power of God, only increase his enmity, 
and urge him onward in his apostacy, and wanderings from 
his Creator. The goodness of God being misunderstood, 
furnishes to him no incentive to repentance and reforma- 
tion. Guilt, and fear, and shame, the fruits of his apostacy, 
becloud his understanding, and veil from his eye all the 
demonstrations of benevolence and goodness, with which 
the creation abounds. Adam under a tree, hiding from God, 
trembling with fear, suspicious of the movements of every 
leaf, and covered with shame as with a garment, is both an 
illustration and proof of these views of the state of mind, 
which obtains in the unregenerate. 

Neither the volume of creation, nor that of God's provi- 
dence, is sufficient to remove from the natural man these 
misconceptions and the consequent alienation of heart. 
The best proof that these two volumes cannot do this, is^ 
that they never have, in any one instance, yet done it. 
From the nature of things it is indeed evident that the} r 
cannot do it. The elements are *oo often at war with the 
happiness of man. The ever ch; iging attitude of the na- 
tural world in reference to health, and life, and comfort, 
render it at best doubtful, whether the laws of nature, which 
ultimately bring man down to the grave, are the effect of 
benevolence, or of malevolence towards mankind. A third 
volume explanatory of both, and replete also with superna- 
tural developments, is wanting, to furnish the most diligent 



264 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

student of nature and providence, with the means of learn- 
ing the true and full character of him, against whom we 
have rebelled. 

That volume is the Bible. Holy Prophets and Apostles 
spake as they were moved by the Spirit of Knowledge and 
Revelation. Its records, its history, its prophecy, its pre- 
cepts, its laws, its ordinances, and its examples, all develope 
and reveal God to man, and man to himself. 

But it is in the person and mission of the Incarnate 
Word, that we learn that God is love. That God gave his 
Son for us, and yet gives his Spirit to us — and thus gives 
us himself — are the mysterious and transcendant proofs of 
the most august proposition in the universe. The gospel, 
Heaven^s wisdom and power combined, God's own expedi- 
ent for the renovation of human nature, is neither more nor 
less, than the illustration and proof of this regenerating 
proposition. 

Thus we hasten to our subject. Having glanced at the 
great landmarks of the plantations of nature and grace, 
now that we may, in the light of truth, ascertain the true 
and heaven-taught doctrine of regeneration, we shall cau- 
tiously survey the whole process, as developed by the com- 
missioned teachers of the deep counsels of the only true 
God. 

That certain things, parts of this great progress, may be 
well understood, certain terms which we are wont to use to 
represent them, must be well defined, and accurately ap- 
prehended. These terms are Fact, Testimony, Faith, Re- 
pentance, Reformation, Bath of Regeneration, JSew Birth, 
Renewing of the Holy Spirit, Newness of Life,* 

"All things are of God" in the regeneration of man, is 
our motto; because our Apostle affirmed this as a cardinal 
truth. He is the author of the facts and of the testimony 
which declares them; and being the author of these, he is 
author of all the effects produced by these facts. The 
Christian is a new creation, of which God is the Creator, 
The change of heart and of character, which constitute 
moral regeneration, is the legitimate impression of the facts, 
or things which God has wrought. The facts constitute 
the moral seal which stamps the image of God upon man. 
In the natural order, we must place them first, and, there- 
fore we must first define the term, 

* For Fact, Testimony, and Faith, see pp. 100-113. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 265 



REPENTANCE. 



Repentance is usually denned "sorrow for any thing thai 
is past;" and in the religious vocabulary it is simply "sor- 
row for sin" This is one, but it is only one of the natural 
effects of the belief of the testimony of God. The gospel 
facts, testimony, and faith, contemplate more than this. 
But yet it is necessary that this point of faith should be dis- 
tinctly apprehended, especially hi this age, when it occupies 
so large a space in the systems of theology. 

Repentance, in our current acceptation, is sorrow for sin ; 
and certainly there is no man who believes the revealed facts 
found in the testimony of God, who will not be sorry for his 
sins. But simple sorrow for the past, is but a feeling of the 
heart; which, unless it excite to reformation or the abandon- 
ment of sin, is of no more use than the regrets of Judas after 
he had sold his Master for fifteen dollars. Repentance must, 
however, precede reformation; for unless we are sorry for 
the past, and grieved with ourselves, we will not think of a 
change of conduct. Repentance is to reformation, what 
motive is to action, or resolution to any undertaking. It 
was well for David to resolve to build the temple; and so it 
is well to form any good design ; but much better to execute 
it. To feel sorry for the poor and the afflicted, and to re- 
solve to assist and comfort them, is well ; but to go and do it 
is better: and, indeed unless our sorrow for the past, termi- 
nate in reformation for the future, it is useless in the estima- 
tion of heaven and earth; as useless as to say to the hungry. 
Be filled; or to the naked. Be clothed. 

Genuine repentance does not always issue in reformation. 
Judas was sorrowful even to death, but could not reform. 
Many have been so genuinely sorry for their sins, as to be- 
come suicides. Speak we of "a godly sorrow?" No: this 
is not to be expected from unconverted and ungodly persons. 
Christians, Paul teaches, when they err, may repent with a 
godly sorrow; but this is not to be expected from the unre- 
generate, or from those who have not reformed. * It is not, 
then, the genuineness of repentance that is to be appreciat- 
ed, unless by genuine repentance is meant more than simple 
sorrow for the past — unless by genuine repentance is meant 
reformation. Yet without sincere or unfeigned repentance, 
there cannot be real or genuine reformation. 

This leads us to observe, that the only unequivocal evi- 

23 



266 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

deuce of sincere repentance, is the actual redress of the in- 
jury done ; not only a cessation from the sin, but a restitution 
for the sin, as far as restitution can possibly be made. No 
restitution, no repentance — provided restitution can be made, 
And may I be permitted to add, that without repentance and 
restitution, when possible, there can be no remission. 

The preachers of repentance — of the necessity of repen- 
tance in order to remission, ought to set this matter fairly 
and fully before sinners. Do they represent repentance as 
sorrow for the past, and a determination to reform? How 
then will the sinner know that he is sorry for his sins 
against men, or how will the community know that he has 
repented of such sins, unless full restitution be made? it 
is impossible that either the sinner himself, or the commu- 
nity who know his sins against man, can have any certain 
evidence that he is penitent, unless by making all possible 
restitution. 

Peccator wounded the reputation of his neighbor Hennas,, 
and on another occasion defrauded him of ten pounds. — 
Some of the neighborhood were apprised that he had done 
both. Peccator was converted under the preaching of Pau- 
linas, and on giving in a relation of his sorrow for his sins, 
spoke of the depth of his convictions, and of his abhorrence 
of his transgressions. He was received into the cono-rega- 
lion, and sat down with the faithful to commemorate the 
great sin offering. Hermas and his neighbors were wit- 
nesses of all this. They saw that Peccator was penitent, 
and much reformed in his behaviour: but they could not 
believe him sincere, because he had made no restitution. 
They regarded him either as a hypocrite or self-deceived ; 
because, having it in his power, he repaid not the ten 
pounds, nor once contradicted the slanders he had propa- 
gated. Peccator, however, felt little enjoyment in his 
profession, and soon fell back into his former habits. He 
became again penitent, and on examining the grounds of 
his falling off, discovered that he had never cordially turned 
away from his sins. Overwhelmed in sorrow for the past, 
he resolved on giving himself up to the Lord; and, reflect- 
ing on his past life, set about the work of reformation in 
earnest. He called on Hermas, paid him his ten pounds, 
and the interest for every day he had kept it back, went to 
all the persons to whom he had slandered him, told them 
what injustice he had done him, and begged them, if they 
had told it to any other persons, to contradict it. Several 



THE CHPaSTlAN SYSTEM. 267 

other persons whom he had wronged in his dealings with 
them, he also visited; and fully redressed all these wrongs 
against his neighbors. He also confessed them to the Lord, 
and asked him to forgive him. Peecator was then restored 
to the church; and better still, he enjoyed a peace of mind, 
and a confidence in God, which was a continual feast. His 
example, moreover, did more to enlarge the congregation 
at the Cross-roads, than old the preaching of Pauiinns in 
a whole year. This was, unequivocally, sincere repent- 
ance. 

This is the repentance which Moses preached, and which 
Jesus approbated. Under the law, confession to the priest, 
and the presenting of a trespass offering, availed nothing to 
forgiveness without restitution. But the law went into de- 
tails still more minute than these; for provision is made for 
the case in which the sinner could not find the person 
against whom he had sinned. In such a case, the penitent 
sinner was to seek out the kindred of the injured party, 
and if he could find any kinsman, he was to recompense 
this kinsman; but if he could not find a kinsman, he must 
recompense it to the Lord, besides offering his trespass offer- 
ing. It was to go into the Lord's treasury.* The principle 
uniformly, in all cases of sin against man, was, the sin- 
ner "shall make amends for the harm he has done, and shall 
add the fifth part thereto."! 

If any one suppose that repentance is to be less sincere 
or unequivocal under the gospel, let him remember that 
Zaccheus proposed more than adding a fifth; he would re- 
store fourfold, and that Jesus approbated him for so doing. 
Indeed, John the Immerser demanded fruits worthy of re- 
pentance or of reformation, and Paul proclaimed that those 
who turned to God should do works meet for, or worthy of, 
repentance.^ 

"Works, worthy of repentance," is a phrase which can be 
understood in no other sense than those works which make 
amends for the harm done to men and the dishonor done to 
God, as far as both are possible. Can any man think that 
he is sorry for that sin or wrong which he has done, when 
he makes no effort to make amends to him who was injured 
in person-, character, or property, by it? Works worthy of 
his professed repentance are wanting, so long as any being 

* Num. v. 7, 8, t Lev. v. 16. J Acts xxvi. 20. 



369 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 



whom he hath injured in person, property, or reputation, w 
unredressed to the utmost extent of his ability. 

One of our most popular commentators says — and with 
much truth —"No man should expect mercy at the hand of 
God, who having wronged his neighbor, refuses, when he 
has it in his power, to make restitution. Were he to weep 
tears of biood, both the justice and mercy of God would 
shut out his prayer, if he make not his neighbor amends for 
the injury he has done him. He is a dishonest man, who 
illegally hoids the property of another in his hands."* 

Every preacher of repentance should insist upon these 
evidences of sincerity both for the satisfaction of the peni- 
tent himself, and for the good of the community. "Many 
that believed came and confessed, and showed their deeds; 
many of them also, who used curious arts, bringing their 
books together, burnt them before all; and they computed 
the value of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of sil- 
ver ."| This was making restitution, in their case, as far 
as possible; and the principle here evinced is applicable in 
every other case. 

But in pursuing this subject so far, we have passed over 
the boundaries of repentance, and sometimes confounded 
it with reformation. This is owing to the licentious use of 
language, to which modern theology has so richly contri- 
buted. We shall, however, redress this wrong, as far as 
practicable, by a few remarks on 

REFORMATION. 

The word metanoia, used by the sacred writers and hea- 
ven-taught preachers of the New Economy, as indicative of 
the first effect of faith, as has been often showed, is different 
from that which our word repentance fitly represents. It 
literally imports a change of mind; but, as Parkhurst, Camp- 
bell, and many others say, "such a change of mind as influ- 
ences one's subsequent behaviour for the better." "It has 
been observed by some, and, I think with reason, that the 
former (matanoeo) denotes properly a change to the better: 
the latter (matamelomai) barely a change, whether to the 
better or to the worse; that the former marks a change of 
mind that is durable, and produces consequences; the latter 
expresses only a present uneasy feeling of regret, without 

* Adam Clarke on Gen art. 2. f Acts six. 1S-20. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM, 269 

regard to duration or effects: in fine, that the first maybe 
translated into English, 1 reform; the second, I repent, in 
the familiar acceptation of the words .^ Now as every 
one who reforms repents; but as everyone who repents does 
not reform, this distinction is necessary and proper; and 
there is nothing hazarded, nothing lost by translating the 
former I reform, and the latter 1 repent. There is something 
gained, especially in all places where we have the word in 
the imperative mood, because then it is of importance to 
know precisely what is intended. If we are commanded 
only to change our mind, or to be sorry for the past, we have 
obeyed when we feel regret; but if more than mere change 
of mind or regret is intended, we have not obeyed the com- 
mandment until we change for the better. Now it is, we 
think, very evident from various passages of the sacred 
writings of the Apostles, and from their speeches, that they 
commanded more than a simple change of mind as respect- 
ed past conduct, or mere sorrow for the past. Peter com- 
manded the thousands assembled on the day of Pentecost, 
who had changed their minds, and who were sorry for the 
past, to do something which they had not yet done; and that 
something is in the common version rendered repent] and in 
the new version, reform; and in the old English Bible, 
amend your lives. The word here used is the imperative of 
metanoeo, Judas repented, and many like him, who never 
reformed; and, therefore, it is of importance that this dis- 
tinction should be kept in view. % 

Repentance is not reformation, but is necessary to it; for 
whoever reforms, must first repent. Reformation is, indeed, 
the carrying out of the purpose into our conduct. But as 
reformation belongs rather to another part of our essay than 
the present, we shall, on the premises already before us. 
pause and offer a few reflections. 

In the preceding definitions of words and ideas, it would 
appear that we have a literal and unfigurative representa- 
tion of the whole process of what is figuratively called re- 
generation. For, as we shall soon see, the term regeneration 
is a figure of speech which very appropriately, though ana- 
logically, represents the reformation or renovation of life of 
which we have now spoken. 

That the preceding arrangement is not arbitrary, , but 
natural and necessary, the reader will perceive, when he 

X See Family Testament, Note 39, page 74. 
23* 



270 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

reflects, that the thing done, or the fact, must precede the 
report or testimony concerning it; that the testimony con- 
cerning it must precede the belief of it; that belief of the 
testimony must precede any feeling in correspondence with 
the fact testified ; and that feeling must precede action in 
conformity to it. Fact, testimony, faith, feeling, action? 
are therefore bound together by a natural and gracious ne- 
cessity, which no ingenuity can separate. And will not 
every Christian say, that when a person feels and acts ac- 
cording to the faith, or the testimony of God, he is a new 
creature — regenerate — truly converted to God? He that 
believes the facts testified in the record of God, understands 
them, feels according to their nature and meaning, and acts 
in correspondence with them — has undergone a change of 
heart and of life which makes him a new man. 

This is that moral change of heart and life, which is figu- 
ratively called regeneration. We are not to suppose that 
regeneration is something which must be added to the faith, 
the feeling, and the action or behaviour, which are the ef- 
fects of the testimony of God understood and embraced; or 
which are the impress of the divine facts attested by Pro- 
phets and Apostles. It is only another name for the same 
process in all its parts. 

It may also he observed that numerous figures and analo- 
gies are used by the inspired writers to set forth this change, 
as well as other leading truths and lessons in the Bible. In 
their collective capacity, Christians are called a kingdom, a 
nation, a generation, a family, a house, a flock, a city, a 
temple, a priesthood, &c. In their individual capacity they 
are called kings, priests, soldiers, citizens, children, sheep, 
branches, stones, &c. They are said to be begotten, born, 
regenerated, builded, engrafted, converted, created, planted. 
Now, under whatever figure they are considered or intro- 
duced, reason argues that every thing said of them should be 
expressed in conformity with the figure under which they 
are presented. Are they called sheep ? — then he that pre- 
sides over them is called a Shepherd; their enemies are 
icolves wi dogs; their sustenance is the green pasture; 
their place of safety and repose, the sheepfold; their errors 
are wanderings and strayings; their conversion, a return: 
and their good behaviour a hearing of the voice, or a follow- 
ing of the Shepherd. Are they called children? — then col- 
lectively they are a family, they are begotten and horn 
again; God is their Father; their separation is an adoption 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 271 

Jesus is their elder brother; they are heirs of God ; they live 
and walk with God. Are they priests? — Jesus is their High 
Priest; the church their temple; the Saviour is their altar; 
their songs, their praises, are incense ascending to heaven; 
and their oblations to the poor, their works of love, are 
sacrifices most acceptable to God. Are they called citizens? 
— the church is then the kingdom of heaven; Jerusalem is 
the mother of them all; formerly they were aliens, and their 
naturalization is regeneration. Are they called branches? — 
then Jesus is the true vine; his Father the vine-dresser; their 
union with Christ, an engrafting; the discipline of the gos- 
pel, a pruning; and their good works are fruits of righteous- 
ness. 

Thus there is no confusion of metaphors in the Scriptures 
of truth — in the dialect of heaven. It is the language of 
Ashdod; it belongs to the confusion of Babel, to mingle and 
confound all figures and analogies. Hence we so often hear 
of being born again, without any allusion to a family or a 
kingdom! and of regeneration as antecedent to faith or re- 
pentance! Had a modern assembly of Divines been em, 
ployed to accommodate the scripture style to their orthodox 
sentiments, we should not have had to read all the Old Tes- 
tament and all the historic books of the New, to find the sub- 
ject of regeneration but once proposed to an alien, as the 
fact is; but then we should have found it in the history of 
Abei, of Enoch, of Noah, and of Abraham, if not in every 
section of the law of Moses, in the Prophets, and in the 
Psalms. John the Baptist, Jesus, and the Holy Twelve, 
would have had it in every sermon; and true faith would 
have been always defined as the fruit of regeneration. 

But Jesus had a kingdom in his eye and in his discourse 
before he ever mentioned being 4 born again' to Nicodemus; 
for unless there was a family, a state, or a kingdom to be 
born into, it is impossible for any one to be born into it. 
And if the kingdom of heaven only began to be after Jesus 
entered into heaven; or, if it was only approaching from 
the ministry of John to the day of Pentecost, then it would 
have been preposterous indeed — an incongruity of which 
no inspired man was ever guilty— to call any change of 
heart or life, a regeneration, or a new birth. It is true that 
good men in all ages were made such by facts, testimony, 
faith, and feeling, by a change of heart, by the Spirit of 
Gcd; but the analogy, or figure of being born, or of being 



212 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

regenerated, only began to be preached, and when men be- 
gan to press into it. 

We are now, perhaps, better prepared to consider the pro- 
per import and meaning of 'regeneration? in general, and of 
Hhe bath of regeneration* in particular. 

REGENERATION. 

This word is found but twice in all the oracles of God — 
once in Matthew xix. 28. and once in Titus iii. 5. In the 
former it is almost universally understood to mean a new 
state of things, not of persons — a peculiar era, in which all 
things are to be made new:— such as the formation of a new 
church on the day of Pentecost, or the commencement of 
the Millennium, or the general resurrection. The biblical 
critics of eminence have assigned it to one or other of these 
great changes in the state of things. So we use the word 
revolution, and the phrase the Revolution, to express a 
change in the political state of things. The most approved 
punctuation and version of this passage renders it altogether 
evident that a new era is alluded to. 'Jesus answered, In- 
deed, I say to you, that at the renovation [regeneration] 
when the Son of Man shall be seated on his glorious throne, 
you, my followers, sitting also upon twelve thrones, shall 
judge the twelve tribes of Israel." 9 This being so evident, 
and so often alluded to in our former writings, we shall pro- 
ceed to the remaining occurrence, Titus iii. 5. 

All the new light which we propose to throw on this pas- 
sage, will be gathered from an examination of the accepta- 
tion of the word generation, in the sacred writings. Our rea- 
son for this is, that we object to a peremptory decision of the 
meaning of a word which occurs only in the passage under 
discussion, from our reasonings upon the isolated passage 
in which it is found. In such a case, if we cannot find the 
whole word in any parallel passages, the proper substitute is 
the root or branches of that word, so far as they are employ- 
ed by the same writers. Moreover, we think it will be 
granted, that whatever may be the scriptural acceptation of 
the word generation, regeneration is only the repetition of 
that act or process. 

After a close examination of the passages in which gener- 
ation occurs in the writings of the Hebrew Prophets and 
Apostles, we find it used only in two acceptations — as de- 
scriptive of the whole process of creation and of the thing 
created. A race of men, or a particular class of men, is 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 2?3 

called a generation / but this is its figurative, rather than its 
literal meaning. Its literal meaning is the formation or 
creation of any thing. Thus it is first used in the Holy 
Scriptures. Moses calls the creation, or whole process of 
formation of the heavens and the earth, 'The generations of 
the heavens and the earth.'* The account of the formation 
of Adam and Eve, and also the account of the creations of 
Adam and Eve, are, by the game writer, called, 'The book 
or record of the generations of Adam.'f This is the literal 
import of the word; consequently, regeneration literally in* 
dicates the whole process of renovating or new-creating man. 

This process may consist of numerous distinct acts; but 
it is in accordance with general usage to give to the begin- 
ning, or consummating act, the name of the whole process, 
For the most part, however, the name of the whole process 
is given to the consummating act, because the process is 
always supposed incomplete until that act is performed. 
For example: In the process of tanning, fulling, forging, &c. 
the subject of these operations is not supposed to be tanned, 
fulled, forged, until the last act is performed. So in all the 
processes of nature — in the animal, vegetable, and mineral 
kingdoms, the last act consummates the process. To all 
acquainted with the process of animalization, germination, 
crystallization, &,c. no farther argument is needed. But 
in the style of our American husbandmen, no crop nor 
animal is made, until it come to maturity. We often hear 
them say of a good shower, or of a few clear days, "This is 
the making of the wheat or corn." In the same sense it is, 
that most Christians call regeneration the new birth; 
though being born is only the last act in natural generation, 
and the last act in regeneration. 

In this way the new birth and regeneration are used 
indiscriminately by commentators and writers on theology, 
and by a figure of speech, it is justified on well established 
principles of rhetoric. This leads us to speak particular- 
ly of 

THE BATH OF REGENERATION. 

By Hhe bath of regeneration,' 9 is not meant the first, sec- 
ond, or third act; but the last act of regeneration, which 
completes the whole; and is, therefore, used to denote the 

* Genesis ii. 4. f Genesis v. 1, 



274 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

new birth. This is the reason why our Lord and his Apos- 
tles unite this act with water. Being born of water, in the 
Saviours style, and thebath of regeneration, in the Apostles' 
?tyle, in the judgment of all writers and critics of eminence, 
refer tooneand thesameact— viz: christian baptism. Hence 
it came to pass, that all the ancients (as fully proved in our 
first Extra on Remission) used the word regeneration as 
synonymous in signification with immersion. In addition to 
the numerous quotations made in our Essay on Remission, 
from the creeds and liturgies of Protestant churches, we 
shall add another from the Common Prayer of the Church of 
England, showing unequivocally that the learned Doctors of 
that church used the words regeneration and baptism as 
synonymous. In the address and prayer of the minister 
after the baptism of the child, he is commanded to say, — 

"Seeing now, dearly beloved brethren, that this child is 
regenerate, and grafted into the body of Christ's church, let 
us give thanks unto Almighty God for these benefits, and 
with one accord make our prayer unto him, that this child 
may lead the rest of his life according to this beginning." 
Then shall be said, all kneeling — 

"We yield thee hearty thanks, most merciful Father, that 
it hath pleased thee to regenerate this infant with thy Holy 
Spirit, to receive him for thine own child by adoption, and to 
incorporate him into thy holy church. And humbly we be- 
seech thee to grant that he, being dead unto sin, and living 
onto righteousness, and being buried with Christ in his 
death, may crucify the old man, and utterly abolish the 
whole body of sin; and that as he is made partaker of the 
death of thy Son, he may also be partaker of his resurrec- 
tion; so that finally, with the residue of thy holy church, 
he may be an inheritor of thine everlasting kingdom, 
through Christ our Lord. Amen!" 

Eusebius, in his Life of Constantine, page 628, shows that 
St. Cyprian, St. Athanasius, and, indeed, all the Greek 
Fathers, did regard baptism as the consummating act; and 
therefore they called it teliosis, the consummation. These 
authorities weigh nothing with us; but as they weigh with 
our opponents, we think it expedient to remind them on 
which side the Fathers depose in the case before us. By 
these quotations we would prove no more than that the an- 
cients understood the washing of regeneration, and indeed 
used the term regeneration as synonymous with baptism. 

But were we asked for the precise import of the phrase. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 275 

* washing or bath of regeneration, 1 either on philological 
principles, or as explained by the Apostles, we would give it 
as our judgment, that the phrase is a circumlocution or peri- 
phrasis for water. It is loutron, a word which more proper- 
ly signifies the vessel that contains the water, than the water 
itself; and is, therefore, by the most learned critics and 
translators, rendered hath, as indicative either of the vessel 
containing the fluid, or of the use made of the fluid in the 
vessel. It is, therefore, by a metonymy, the water of bap- 
tism, or the water in which we are regenerated. Paul was 
a Hebrew and spoke in the Hebrew style. We must learn 
that style before we fully understand the Apostle's style. In 
other words, we must studiously read the Old Testament 
before we can accurately understand the New. What more 
natural for a Jew accustomed to speak of 'the water of pu- 
rification,' of 'the water of separation,'* to speak of 'th6 
bath of regeneration ?' If the phrase 'water of purification' 
meant water used for the purpose of purifying a person — if 
Hhe water of separation' meant water used for separating a 
person, what more natural than 'the bath of regeneration 1 
should mean water used for regenerating a person? 

But the New Testament itself confirms this exposition of 
the phrase. We find the word loutron once more used by the 
same Apostle, in the same connexion of thought, in his letter 
to the Ephesians, he affirms that Jesus has sanctified (sepa- 
rated, purified with the water of purification,) the church 
by a loutron of water — 'a bath of water, with the word' — 
'having cleansed it by a bath of water, with the word.' | 
This is still more decisive. The king's translators, so fully 
aware that the sense of this passage agrees with Titus iii. 5. 
have, in both places, used the word washing, and Mack night 
the term bath, as the import of loutron. What is called the 
washing or bath of regeneration, in the one passage, is, in the 
other, called Hhe washing,' or 'bath of water.' What is call- 
ed 'saved 1 * in one, is called 'cleansed'* in the other; and what 
is called 'the renewal of the Holy Spirit in the one, is called 
Hhe word* in the other; because the Holy Spirit consecrates 
or cleanses through the word, For thus prayed the Messi- 
ah, 'Consecrate them through the truth: thy word is the 
truth." And again, 'You are clean through the word that 
f have spoken to you.' 

To the same effect, Paul, to the Hebrew Christians, says 

* See Numbers viii. 7.— xix. 9, 13,20, 21.— xxxi. 23. 
f Ephesians, cliap. v. 26. 



276 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

^Having your hearts sprinkled from a guilty conscience, and 
your bodies washed with pure water — the water of purifica- 
tion, the water of regeneration: for the phrase 'pure water' 
must be understood, not of the quality of the water, but me- 
tonymically, of the effect, the cleansing, the washing, or the 
purifying of the person — 'having your bodies or persons 
toashed with pure water,' or water that purifies or cleanses. 

No one, acquainted with Peter's style, will think it strange 
that Paul represents persons as saved, cleansed, or sanctified 
by water; seeing Peter unequivocally asserts that c we are 
saved* through water, or through baptism, as was Noah and 
his family through water and faith in God's promise. 'The 
antitype immersion, does also now save us.' 

Finally, our great Prophet, the Messiah, gives to water the 
same place and power in this work of regeneration . For 
when speaking of being born again — when explaining to 
Nicodemus the new birth, he says, 'Except a man be born of 
water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of 
God.' May not we, then, supported by such high authori- 
ties, call that water of which a person is born again, the 
water or bath of regeneration ? 

NEW BIRTH. 

We have already seen that the consummation of the pro- 
cess of generation or creation is in the birth of the creature 
formed. So it is in the moral generation, or in the great pro- 
cess of regeneration. There is a state of existence from 
which he that is born passes ; and there is a state of existence 
into which he enters after birth. This is true of the whole 
animal creation, whether oviparous or viviparous. Now 
the manner of existence, or the mode of life, is wholly 
changed ; and he is, in reference to the former state, dead 
and to the new state alive. So in moral regeneration. The 
subject of this great change before his new birth, existed in 
one state ; but after it, he exists in another. He stands in a 
new relation to God, angels, and men. He is now born of 
God, and has the privilege of being a son of God, and is con- 
sequently pardoned, justified, sanctified, adopted, saved. 
The state which he left was a state of condemnation, what 
some call "the state of nature." The state into which he 
enters is a state of favor, in which he enjoys all the heaven. 
]y blessings through Christ: therefore, it is called 'the king- 
dom of heaven.' All this is signified in his death, burial 5 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 277 

£nd resurrection with Christ; or in his being born of water. 
Hence, the necessity of being buried with Christ in water, 
that he may be born of water, that he may enjoy the renew- 
al of the Holy Spirit, and be placed under the reign of favor. 

All the means of salvation are means of enjoyment, not of 
procurement. Birth itself is not for procuring, but for en- 
joying the life possessed before birth. So in the analogy — 
no one is to be baptized, or to be buried with Christ; noone 
is to be put under the water of regeneration for the purpose 
of 'procuring life, but for the purpose of enjoying the life of 
which he is possessed. If the child is never born, all its 
sensitive powers and faculties cannot be enjoyed; for it is 
after birth that these are fully developed, and feasted upon 
all the aliments and objects of sense in nature. Hence all 
that is now promised in the gospel, can only be enjoyed by 
those who are born again and placed in the kingdom of 
heaven under all its influences. Hence the philosophy of 
that necessity which Jesus preached — 'Unless a man be born 
again he cannot discern the kingdom of heaven — unless a 
man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into it. 

But let no man think that in the act of being born, either 
naturally or metaphorically, the child purchases, procures, 
cr merits either life or its enjoyments. He is only by his 
birth placed in circumstances favorable to the enjoyment of 
life, and all that makes life a blessing. 'To as many as re- 
ceive him, believing in his name, he grants the privilege 
of being children of God, who derive their birth not from 
blood, nor from the desire of the flesh , nor from the will of 
man, but from God. 15 

RENEWING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 

'He has saved us,' says the Apostle Paul, 'by the bath of 
regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit, which he 
poured on us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; that 
being justified by his favor, [in the bath of regeneration,] we 
might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.'' 
Thus, and not by works of righteousness, he has saved us. 
Consequently, being born of water and the renewing of the 
Holy Spirit, are not works of merit or of righteousness, but 
only the means of enjoyment. But this pouring out of the 
influences, this renewing of the Holy Spirit, is as necessary 
as the bath of regeneration to the salvation of the soul, and 
to the enjoyment of the hope of heaven, of which the Apostle 

24 



278 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

speaks. In the kingdom into which we are born of water f 
the Holy Spirit is as the atmosphere in the kingdom of na- 
ture — we mean that the influences of the Holy Spirit are as 
necessary to the new life, as the atmosphere is to our animal 
life in the kingdom of nature . All that is done in us before 
regeneration, God our Father effects by the word, or the gos- 
pel as dictated and confirmed by his Holy Spirit. But after 
we are thus begotten and born by the Spirit of God — after 
our new birth, the Holy Spirit is shed on us richly through 
Jesus Christ our Saviour; of which the peace of mind, the 
love, the joy, and the hope of the regenerate is full proof; 
for these are amongst the fruits of that Holy Spirit of prom- 
ise of which we speak. Thus commences 

THE NEW LIFE. 

'Newness of life"* is a Hebraism for a new life. The new 
birth brings us into a new state. 'Old things have passed 
away; all things have become new,' says an Apostle: 'for if 
any one be in Christ, he is a new creature.' A new spirit, 
a new heart, and an outward character, corresponding to this 
change, are the effects of the regenerating process: 'for the 
end of the charge,' the grand result of the remedial system, 
is 'love out of a pure heart, a good conscience, and faith 
unfeigned.' 'Love is the fulfilling of the whole law,' and the 
fruit of the whole gospel. It is the cardinal principle of all 
Christian behaviour, the soul of the new man, the breath of 
the new life. Faith works by no other rule, ll is a work- 
ing principle, and love is the rule by which it operates. The 
Spirit of God is the spirit of love and the health of a sound 
mind. Every pulsation of the new heart is the impulse of 
the spirit of love. Hence the brotherhood is beloved, aiad 
all mankind embraced in unbounded good will. When the 
tongue speaks, the hands and the feet move and operate un- 
der the unrestrained guidance of this principle, we have the 
Christian character drawn to the life. For meekness, humil- 
ity, mercy, sympathy, and active benevolence, are only the 
names of the various workings of this all-renovating, in- 
vigorating, sanctifying, and happify ing principle. 'He that 
dwells in love, dwells in God and God in him.' 

The Christian, or the new man, is then a philanthropist to 
the utmost extent of the meaning of that word. Truth and 
love have made him free from all the tyrannies of passion, 
from guilt, and fear, and shame; have filled him with cour- 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 279 

age, active and passive. Therefore, his enterprize, his 
capital enterprize, to which all others minister, is to take 
part with the Saviour in the salvation of the world. <If by 
any means 1 may save some,' are not the words of Paul only, 
but of every new man. Are they merchants, mechanics, 
husbandmen ? — are they magistrates, lawyers, judges, or un- 
official citizens? — are they masters, servants, fathers, sons, 
brothers, neighbors? — whatever, or wherever they may 
be, they live for God and his city, for the king and his empire. 
They associate not with the children of wrath — the miser, 
the selfish, the prodigal, the gay, the proud, the slanderer, 
the tattler, the rake, the libertine, the drunkard, the thief, 
the murderer. Every new man has left these precincts; 
has broken his league with Satan and his slaves, and has 
joined himself to the family of God. These he complacent- 
ly loves — those he pities — and does good to all. 

The character of the new man is an elevated character. 
Feeling himself a son and heir of God, he cultivates the 
temper, spirit, and behaviour, which corresponds with so ex- 
alted a relation. He despises every thing mean, grovelling, 
earthly, sensual, develish. As the only begotten and well 
beloved Son of God is to be the model of his future personal 
glory, so the character which Jesus sustained amongst men, 
is the model of his daily imitation. His every day aspira- 
tion is — 

"Thy fair example will I trace, 

To teach ine what I ought to be ; 
Make me, by thy transforming grace, 

Lord Jesus, daily more like thee." 

The law of God is hid in his heart. The living oracles 
dwell in his mind; and he grows i& favor with God as he 
grows in the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ his Lord. 
As a new born babe he desires the unadulterated milk of the 
word of God, that he may grow by it; for as the thirsty hart 
pants after the brooks of water, so pants his soul after God. 
Thus he lives to God, and walks with him. This is the 
character of the regenerate — of him that is born of God — 
of the new man in Christ Jesus. This is that change of 
heart, of life, and of character, which is the tendency and the 
fruit of the process of regeneration, as taught and exempli- 
fied by the Apostles, and those commended by God, in their 
writings. 

We now proceed to offer a few remarks on physical re- 
generation, the second part of our subject. 



2S0 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 



PiiYSICAL REGENERATION. 

Our mortal bodies are yet to feel the regenerating power 
of the Son of God. This is emphaiically called Hire glory 
of his 'power? fc The redemption of the body' from the bond- 
age of corruption, is the consummation of the new creating 
energy of him who has immortality. Life and incorrupti- 
bility were displayed m and by his resurrection irom the 
dead. It was great to create man in the image of God — 
greater to redeem his soul from general corruption; but 
greatest of all, to give to his mortal frame incorruptible and 
immortal vigor. The power displayed in the giving to the 
dead body of the Son of God incorruptible glory and end- 
less life, is set forth by the Apostle Paul, as incomparably 
surpassing every other divine work within the reach of hu- 
man knowledge. He prays that the mind of Christians 
may be enlarged to apprehend this mighty power — that the 
Father of glory would open their minds, 'that they might 
know the exceeding greatness of his power in relation to 
us who believe — according to the working of his mighty 
power, which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from 
the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly 
places. y Faith in this wonderful operation of God— hope 
for the riches of the glory of the inheritance of the saints 
in light, are in the most powerful principles of action, which 
God has ever planted in the human breast. This is the 
transcendent hope of the Christian calling, which imparted 
such heroic courage to all the saints of eternal renown. 
This better resurrection in prospect, has produced heroes 
which make cowards of all the boasted chiefs of worldly 
glory. As the magnetic needle ever points to the pole, so 
the mind, influenced by this hope, ever rises to the skies, 
and terminates on the fulness of joy, and the pleasures for 
evermore, in the presence, and.at the right hand of God. 

To raise a dead body to life again, is not set forth as 
more glorious, than by a touch to give new vigor to the pal- 
sied arm, to impart sight to the blind, or hearing to the deaf; 
but to give that raised body the deathless vigor of incorrup- 
tibility, to renovate and transform it in all its parts, and to 
make every spirit \ee\ that it reanimates its own body, that 
V. is as insusceptible of decay, as immortal as the Father of 
eternity, is a thought overwhelming to every mind, a de- 
velopment which will glorify the power of God, as the sa- 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 281 

erifice of his Son now displays his righteousness, faithful- 
ness, and love to the heavens and to the earth. 

This new birth from the dark prison of the grave, is fitly 
styled 'the redemption of the body' from bondage, ' the glo- 
rious liberty of the sons of God? As in our watery grave 
the old man is figuratively buried to raise no more, so in the 
literal grave, the prison of the body, we leave all that is 
corrupt; for he that makes all things new, will raise us up 
in hiss own likeness, and present us before his Father's face 
in all the glory of immortality. Then will regeneration be 
complete. Then will be the full revelation of the sons of 
God. 

Immortality, in the sacred writings, is never applied to 
the spirit of man. It is not the doctrine of Plato which the 
resurrection of Jesus proposes. It is the immortality of the 
body of which his resurrection is a proof and pledge. This 
was never developed till he became the first born from the 
dead, and id a human body entered the heavens. Jesus 
was not a spirit when he returned to God. He is not made 
the Head of the New Creation as a Spirit, but as the Son of 
Man. Our nature in his person is glorified; and when he 
appears to our salvation, we shall be made like him: we 
shall then see him as he is. This is the Christian hope. 

" A hope go great and so divine 
May trials well endure, 
j And purse the sou! from sense and sin, 

As Christ himself is pure. ' 

Thus matters stand in the economy of redemption. Thus 
the divine scheme of regeneration is consummated: the 
moral part, by the operation of moral means; the physical 
part, by the mighty power of God operating through physi- 
cal means. By the word of his power he created the heavens 
and the earth ; by the word of his grace he reanimates the 
soul of man; and by the word of his power he will again 
form our bodies anew, and reunite the spirit and the body 
in the bonds of an incorruptible and" everlasting union. 
Then shall death "be swallowed up for ever." "Where 
now thy victory, boasting grave?" Bat for this we must 
wait. 'We know not what we shall be.' We only know, 
that when he appears, we shall be like him; that we shall 
see him as he is. 



24* 



282 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 



THE USE OF THE THEORY OF REGENERATION, 

One would imagine, from the voluminous arguments, de- 
bates and sermons upon the theory of regeneration, that a 
sound theory was essential to salvation: that it must be 
preached in every sermon, in order to regenerate the hear- 
ers. Nothing can be more preposterous. Who can think 
that any theory of the resurrection or regeneration of the 
body, can affect the body in the grave! As little can any 
theory affect the unregenerate, or those dead in trespasses 
and in sins. A sermon upon generation, or upon natural 
birth, would be as efficacious upon those unborn, in bring- 
ing them into this life, as a sermon upon moral or physical 
regeneration. This explains the fact, that in all the ac- 
counts of apostolical preaching to Jew and Gentile — in all 
the extracts of their sermons and speeches found in the New 
Testament, the subject of regeneration is not once mention- 
ed. It is, in all the historic books of the New Testament, 
but once propounded, but once named ; and that only in a 
private conference with a Jewish Senator, on the affairs of 
Christ's kingdom. No theory understood or believed by the 
unregenerate; no theory proposed to them for their accep- 
tance, can avail any thing to their regeneration. We might 
as reasonably deliver a theory of digestion to a dyspeptic, to 
cure his stomach — or a theory upon vegetation to a scion, 
to hasten its growth, as to preach any view of regeneration 
to a sinner, to make him a Christian. 

Of what use, then, are the previous remarks on this sub- 
ject? 1 will first candidly inform the reader, that they were 
not written for his regeneration, either of mind or body; 
but for the benefit of those who are employed in the work 
of regenerating others, and for the conviction of such 
Christians as may have been induced to regard us as aim- 
ing at nothing, but the mere immersion of persons, as alone 
necessary to the whole process of conversion or regenera- 
tion, in their acceptation of these words.* The use of this 



* It may again be necessary in this fastidious age, to remark, that in this essay. 
in order to disabuse the public mind on our use and acceptation of the term regejie- 
ration, we have taken the widest range, which a supreme regard for the apostolic 
style, could, in our judgment, allow. While we argue that the phrase bath of re- 
generation, (Titus iih 5,} is equivalent to immersion, as already explained, and as 
contradistinguished from the renewing of the Holy Spirit, of which the immersed 
believer isa proper subject ; we have spoken of the whole process of renovation, 
not in the strict application of the phrase, Titus iii.5, but rather in the whole lati- 
tude oft he figure employed by the Apostle. It is not the first act of begetting, nor 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 2S3 

theory, if it have any, is, as a guide to those who are labor- 
ino- publicly or privately for the regeneration of sinners. If 
ue have assigned a proper 'place to facts, testimony, faith, 
feeling, action, the bath of regeneration, the renewing of 
the Holy Spirit, and a new life, the course is fairly marked 
out. They are to present the great facta, to declare the 
whole testimony of God to sinners, in order to their conver- 
sion or regeneration . Like Paul, in his account of his labors 
in Corinth, they must go out, not in the strength of human 
philosophy, 'but declaring the testimony of God? and laying 
before their hearers, 'the wonderful works of God.' 

This is the use, and the onlv proper use of sound theory 
on any subject. It is to guide the operator, not the thing 
operated upon. I would hope, under the Divine blessing, to 
be the means of regenerating more persons in one year, 
never once naming regeneration, nor speculating upon the 
subject, by stating and enforcing the testimony of God, 
than by preaching daily the most approved theory of re- 
generation ever sanctioned by any sanhedrim on earth .^ 



the last act of being born, but the whole process of conversion alluded to in the 
figure of generation, to which we have directed the attention of our readers, For. 
as often before stated, our opponents deeeivo themselves, and their hearers, by re- 
presenting us as ascribing to the word immersion, and the act of immersion, all that 
they call regeneration. While, therefore, we contend that being 'born again,' and 
being immersed, are, in the Apostle's style, two names for the same action, we are 
far from supposing. or teaching, that in forming the new man, there is nothing ne- 
cessarv, but to be born. 

If any ask, why this matter was not fully developed in our first essays on this 
subject, our answer is, Because we could not anticipate, that our opponents would 
have so represented or misrepresented our views. Were a General askad, why he 
did not arrange all his troops in the beginning of the action, as he had them arranged 
when he triumphed over his enemy, he would reply, That the manoeuvres and as- 
saults of the enemy, directed the disposition of his forces. 

Our opponents contend for a regeneration, begun and perfected, before faith or 
baptism — a spiritual change of mind by the Holy Spirit, antecedent to either know- 
ledge, faith, or repentance, of which infants are as susceptible as adults ; and, there- 
fore, as we contend, make the gospel of no effect. By way of reprisals, they would 
have their converts to think, that we go for nothing but water, and sarcastically call 
us the advocates of "water regeneration." They think there is something more 
sublime and divine in "spirit regeneration ;" and, therefore, claim the title of or- 
thodox. This calumny has been one occasion of the present essay, and it ha3 occa- 
sioned that part of it, which gives the fullest latitude to the term regeneration, which 
analogy gives to the figure used by the Apostle. But when we speak in the exact 
style of the living oracles on this subject, we must represent being born again, 
t'Johniii.5,) and regeneration, (Titus hi. 5,) as relating to the act of immersion 
alone. See Extra Defended, pp. 24—36. 

* August 1st. — I have just now opened the Cincinnati Baptist Journal of 26th 
July, from which I read an approved definition of regeneration. It is orthodox, 
spiritual, physical, mystical, and metaphysical Regeneration, It is quoted from 
the "Standard." Regeneration, in the Evangelical Standard, is thus denned : — 

"Is the sinner active in regeneration? Certainly he is. His mind is a thinking 
rational principle, which never ceases to act; and, therefore, when the word pas- 
sive is applied to it, by Old Divines, or by Calvinists, they do not mean that it is 
literally dead, like inert matter, which requires a physical impulse to put it in mo- 
tion. They only mean to convey the scriptural idea, that the Holy Spirit is the 
sole agent in regeneration, and that the sinner has no more efficient agency in ac- 
complishing it, than Lazarus had in becoming alive from the dead. Still they grant 



284 THB CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

With these views, we have, then, efFered the preceding re- 
marks: and shall now briefly turn our attention to — 

THE REGENERATION OF THE CHURCH. 

The wore regeneration, we have found once used in the 
sense of a new state of things, or of the introduction of a 
new state of things.* In this application of the word, we 
would turn the attention of our readers to the necessity of 
the regeneration of the church. 

I speak not of the regeneration of any sectarian establish- 
ment. They are built upon another foundation — upon the 
foundation of decrees of councils, creeds, formularies, or 
acts of Parliament. But we speak of those societies that 
professedly build upon the foundation of Apostles and Pro- 
phets, without any human bond of union, or rule of life — 
our brethren of the reformation, or regeneration, now in pro- 
cess. 

Should any one imagine that the state of things to which 
we have attained, is the sole, or ultimate object of our aspi- 
rations, or our efforts, he would do us the greatest injury. 
Societies, indeed, may be found amongst us, far in advance 
of others, in their progress towards the ancient order of 
things; but we know of none that has fully attained to that 
model. It is, however, most acceptable to see so many so- 
cieties formed and forming, under the banners of reforma- 



tihat his mind is most active, but unhappily its activity is all against the Divine in- 
fluence ; as the Scriptures assure us, unregenerated persons 'do always resist' the 
strivings of the Spirit, * tLvery imagination of the thoughts of man's heart, is only 
<^vil continually." 'There is none that doeth good, no not one.'* The sinner, there- 
fore, instead of voluntarily co-operating with the Holy Spirit, does all he can to 
resist his divine Influence, and prevent his own regeneration, until he is made wil- 
ling by almighty power." 

What a comfortable thing is this theory of regeneration ! The sinner is to be 
regenerated when actively striving against the Divine influence. At the moment 
of regeneration, "he has," in one sense, "no more efficient agency in accomplish- 
ing it, than Lazarus had in becoming alive from the dead ;" and in another sense, 
he is not passive, but "does all he can to resist the Divine influence, and prevent 
his own regeneration, until he is made willing by almighty power." This is stan- 
dard divinity ; and he that preaches this divinity, is a pious, regenerated, Regular 
Orthodox Baptist Christian Minister ! Of how much value, on this theory, is all the 
preaching in Christendom? The Holy Spirit may be busily at work upon some 
drunken sot, or some vile debauchee, who is as dead as Lazarus on one side, and on 
the other resisting the Spirit, with all his moral and physical energy, up to the mo- 
ment that the Almighty arm pierces him to the heart with a sword, and makes him 
alive by killing him ! ! ! 

The absurdity and licentiousness of such a view of the great work of renova- 
tion, we had thought so glaring, that no editor in the West would have had boldness 
to have published it. This is a proof of the necessity of our present essay, and will 
explain to the intelligent reader why we have given to the whole process of reno* 
vation,the name of regeneration, which properly belongs to the last act. 

* Matt. xix. 28. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 2$» 

tion, with the determination to move onwards in conformity 
to the sacred oracles, till they stand perfect and complete in 
all the will of God. 

Our opponents cannot, or will not, understand how any 
society can be in progress to a better order of things, than 
that under which they may have commenced their pilgrim- 
age. Their sectarian policies were soon formed, and the 
limits of their reformation were soon fixed; beyond which it 
soon became heretical to move. The founders of all new 
schisms, not only saw through a glass darkly, but their hori- 
zon was so circumscribed with human traditions, that they 
only aimed at moving a few paces from the hive in which 
they were generated. A new creed was soon adopted, and 
then their stature was complete. They bounded from in- 
fancy to manhood in a few days, and decided, if any pre- 
sumed farther to advance, they should be treated as those 
who had refuse to move from the old hive. Hence it be- 
came as censurable to grow beyond a certain standard, as 
not to grow at all. This never was our proposition, and 
never can be our object. We have no new creed to form, 
no rules of discipline to adopt. We have taken the Living 
Oracles as our creed, our rules and measures of faith and 
practice; and in this department, have no additions, altera- 
tions, nor amendments to propose. But in coming up to this 
standard of knowledge, faith, and behaviour, we have some- 
thing yet before us, to which we have not attained. 

That we may be distinctly understood on this subject, we 
shall speak particularly on the things wanting in our indivi- 
dual characters, and of the things wanting in our church 
order, to give to our meetings that interest and influence 
which they ought to exert on the brotherhood and on socie- 
ty at large. 

It will be understood, that our remarks on the things 
which are wanting in the disciples, are applicable not to 
every individual, but to the general mass. And first of all, 
there is wanting a more general and particular knowledge 
of the Holy Scriptures, than is possessed by the great major- 
ity of the reformers. There is, perhaps, wanting a taste or 
disposition for that private devotional reading of the oracles 
of God, which is so essential to a growth in that knowledge 
of God and of Jesus Christ, which constitutes the most 
striking attribute in Christian character. We thus reason 
from the proficiency which is discoverable in the bounds of 
our acquaintance, which is large enough to afford data for 
very general conclusions, 



28rt THK CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

To read the Scriptures for the sake of carrying out into 
practice all that we learn, and to read them for the sake of 
knowing what is written, are very different objects, and will 
produce very different results. Their influence on the tem- 
per and behaviour, in the former case, will very soon become 
manifest to ail with whom we associate; while, in the latter 
case, there is no visible improvement. David said that he 
'hid the word of God in his heart, 1 or laid it up in his mind, 
'that he might not sin against God;' and that he had 'more 
understanding than all his teachers, because God's testimo- 
nies were his meditation.' It will be admitted that the sa- 
cred writings of the Apostles and Evangelists of Jesus Christ 
ought to be as precious and as delightful to the Christian, as 
were the ancient oracles to the most pious Jew. Now as 
an example of what we mean by a private devotional read- 
ing and study of the oracles of Christ, we shall permit a Jew 
to tell his experience: — 

'The law of thy mouth is better to me than thousands of 
gold and silver. With my whole heart have 1 sought thee; 
my soul breaketh for the longing that it has to thy judg- 
ments at all times. Thy testimonies are my delight and my 
counsellors. Teach me, O Lord, the way of thy statutes, 
and I will keep it to the end. Give me understanding, and I 
shall keep thy law; yes, I will observe it with my whole heart. 
Make me to go in the path of thy commandments, for in it 
do I delight. Thy statutes have been my songs in the house 
of my pilgrimage. At midnight 1 will rise to give thanks 
to thee, because of thy righteous judgments. O how 1 love 
thy law; it is my meditation all the day! How sweet are 
thy words to my taste; sweeter than honey to my mouth! 
Thy testimonies have I taken as a heritage forever, for they 
are the rejoicing of my heart. Great peace have they that 
love thy law — nothing shall cause them to stumble.' 

These are only a few extracts from one piece, written by 
a king three thousand years ago. On another occasion he 
pronounced the following encomium on the testimony of 
God:— 

'The law [doctrine] of the Lord is perfect, converting [re- 
storing] the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making 
wise the simple: the statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing 
the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlighten- 
ing the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for- 
ever; the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous 
altogether. More to be desired are they than gold — yea, 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 287 

than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey, and the hon- 
ey-comb. By them is thy servant warned, and in keeping 
of them there is great reward. 9 

This fully reveals all that we mean by a devotional pri- 
vate study of the Holy Scriptures. Every Christian who 
can read, may every day thus lefresh, strengthen, and com. 
fort his heart, by reading or committing to memory, and af- 
terwards reflecting upon some portion of the book. He 
may carry in his pocket the blessed volume, and many a 
time through the day take a peep into it. This will pre- 
serve him from temptation, impart courage to his heart, give 
fluency to his tongue, and the graces of Christianity to his 
life. 

In this age, when ignorance of the Christian Scriptures is 
so characteristic, and the rage for human opinions and tra- 
ditions so rampant, it is a duty doubly imperative on our 
brethren, to give themselves much more to the study of the 
book; and then one of them will put a host of the aliens to 
flight; and, what is still more desirable, he will have com- 
munion with God all the day, and ever rejoice in his salva- 
tion. 

In the second place, there is wanting amongst disciples, 
who are heads of families, more attention, much more effort, 
to bring up their children 'in the correction and instruction 
of the Lord.' The children of all disciples should be taught 
the oracles of God from the first dawning of reason. The 
good seed should be sown in their hearts, before the strong 
seeds of vice can take root. From a ehild Timothy knew 
the Holy Scriptures, and they were able to make him wise 
to salvation, through the Christian faith. How many more 
Timothies might we have, if we had a few more of the daugh- 
ters of Lois, and a few more mothers like Eunice! Most 
saints, in this generation, appear more zealous that their 
children should shine on earth, than in heaven — and that 
they may be rich here, at the hazard of eternal bankruptcy. 
They labor to make them rich and genteel, rather than pure 
and holy; and spend more time in fashioning them to the 
foolish and wicked taste of polished society, than in teach- 
ing them by precept and example the word that is better 
than gold, and more precious than rubies. Well, they sow 
darnel, and cannot reap wheat. They may have a mourn- 
ful harvest, and years of bitterness and sorrow may reward 
them for their negligence and err ^ If only a tithe of the 
time, and the labor, and expense thae it costs to fit a son or 



"S88 THB CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

a daughter to shine in the middle or front ranks of genteel 
society, were spent in teaching them to fear God and keep 
his commandments, how many more virtuous, solid, and use- 
ful citizens — how many more valuable members of the 
family of God — how many more faithful and able witnesses 
for the truth of God, would be found in ail corners of the 
land! 

Every Christian family ought to be a nursery for God e 
Their offspring should be trained for the skies. For such 
are the promises of God, such are the facts on record, and 
such is the experience of Christians, that every parent who 
does his duty to his children, may expect to see them inherit 
the blessing. Their didactic labors, aided by their exam- 
ple and their constant prayers, will seldom or never fail of 
success in influencing their descendants to walk in their 
ways. The ver}^ command to bring up their children in the 
Lord, implies its practicability. And both Testaments fur- 
nish us with all assurance that such labors will not be vain. 
The men of high renown in sacred history, were generally 
the sons of such parentage. The sons of God were found 
among the sons of Seth, while the daughters of men were of 
the progeny of Cain. Abraham was the descendant of 
Shem; Moses and Aaron were the sons of believing parents; 
Samuel was the son of Hannah, and David was the son of 
Jesse. John the harbinger was the son of Zachariah and 
Elizabeth; and it pleased the heavenly father, that his Son 
should be the child of a pious virgin. 

But it is under Christ that the faithful are furnished with 
all the necessary means of bringing up their offspring for 
the Lord. The numerous failures which we witness, are to 
be traced either to great neglect, or to some fatal notion 
which paralyzes all effort; for some think that the salvation 
or damnation of their offspring was a matter settled from all 
eternity, irrespective of any agency on their part: that some 
are born 'vessels of wrath, 1 and others 'vessels of mercy ;' 
and hence the instructions, examples, and prayers of parents 
are of no avail. Among the descendents of such, it will no 
doubt often happen that some become vessels of wrath fitted 
for destruction, while others become vessels of mercy, pre- 
destined to glory. 

When God gave a revelation to Jacob, and commanded a 
law to Israel, he gave it in charge that they should 'teach it 
to their children, that they might put their trust in God, and 
might not be, like their fathers, a rebellious race.'' The; 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 289 

Apostles of Christ have also taught the Christians the same 
lesson. This is our guide, and not our own reasonings. 
Now let the disciples make this their business, morning, 
noon, and evening, and then we shall see its effects. 

We are sorry to see this great duty, to which nature, rea- 
son, revelation alike direct, so much neglected by many of 
our brethren — to find amongst their children those who are 
no better acquainted with the Scriptures than the children of 
their neighbors, who believe in miraculous conversions, or 
think it a sin to attempt what they imagine to be the work of 
God alone — never suspecting that God works by human 
mean3, and employs human agency in his works of provi- 
dence and redemption. 

I never knew but a very few families that made it their 
daily business to train up their children in the knowledge of 
the Holy Scriptures, to cause them every day to commit to 
memory a portion of the living oracles; but these few in- 
stances authorize me to think, and to say, thai such a course 
.persisted in, and sustained by the good example of parents, 
will very generally, if not universally, issue in the salvation 
of their children. And before any one says, I have found 
-an exception to the proverb of Solomon, which says, 'Train 
up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he 
will not depart from it,' — let him show that this child was 
'trained up in the way he should go? 

In the third place, there is wanting among many disciples, 
a stricter regard to relative duties — we mean, not only the 
duties which justice, truth, and moderation claim; but all re- 
lative duties. So long as Christians live after the manner 
of men in the flesh, according to the fashion of this world, 
they must, like other men, contract debts which they can- 
not promptly pay, make covenants and bargains, give pro- 
mises which they cannot fulfil, and stake pledges which they 
are unable to redeem. All this is wholly incompatible with 
our profession. Such were not the primitive disciples. 
Sceptics of every name, men of the world, who have ever 
read the New Testament, know that such behaviour is utter 
Jy incompatible with the letter and spirit of Christianity. 
A Christian's word or promise ought to be, and is, if Christ 
be honored, as solemn and obligatory as any bond. And 
as for breach of bargain or covenant, even where it is greatly 
or wholly to the disadvantage of the Christian, it is not even 
to be thought of — 'he changes not, though to his hurt he cov- 
enants.' How much has the gospel lost of its influence, be- 

25 



290 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

cause of the faithlessness of its professors! O! when shall 
it be again said of Christians in general, that 'they bind 
themselves as with a solemn oath, not to commit any kind 
of wickedness — to be guilty neither of theft, robbery, nor 
adultery — never to break a promise, or to keep back a depos- 
ite when called upon.' Pliny writes to the Emperor Trajan 
that such was the character of Christians A. D. 106 — 7, as 
far as he could learn it from those who were not Christians. 
Were all the common (now-a-days rather uncommon) virtues 
of justice, truth, fidelity, honesty, practised by all Chris- 
tians, how many mouths would be stopped, and how many 
new arguments in favor of Jesus Christ could all parties 
find! But even were these common virtues as general as 
the Christian profession, there are the other finer virtues of 
benevolence, goodness, mercy, sympathy, which belong to 
the profession, expressed in taking care of the sick, the or- 
phan, the widow— in alleviating all the afflictions of our fel- 
low-creatures. Add these virtues, or graces, as we some- 
times call them, to the others, and then how irresistible the 
argument for the divine authenticity of the gospel ! Let in- 
dustry, frugality, temperance, honesty, justice, truth, fidelity 9 
humility, mercy, sympathy, appear conspicuous in the lives 
of the disciples, and the contrast between them and other 
professors, will plead their cause more successfully than a 
hundred preachers. 

In the last place, there is wanting a more elevated piety 
to bring up the Christian character to the standard of primi 
tive times. We want not fine speeches nor eloquent orations 
on the excellencies of Christian piety and devotion. These 
are generally acknowledged. But we need to be roused 
from our supineness, from our wordly-mindedness, from our 
sinful conformities to an apostate generation, to the exhibi- 
tion of that holiness in speech, in behaviour, without which 
no one shall see the Lord. What mean the numerous exhor- 
tations of the Apostles to watchfulness and prayer, if these 
are not essential to our devotion to God and consecration to 
his service? 

If our affections are not placed on things above, we are 
unfit for the kingdom of glory. To see the folly of a profes- 
sion of Christianity without the power of godlmess, we have 
only to put the question, How is that person fit for the enjoy- 
ment of God and Christ, whose heart is filled with the cares, 
anxieties, and concerns of this life — whose whole life is a 
life of labor and care for the body— a life of devotion to 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 291 

the objects of time and sense? No man can serve God and 
Mammon. Where the treasure is, the heart must also be. 
Thither the affections turn their course. There is no room 
for the residence of the Spirit of God in a mind devoted to 
the affairs of this life. The spirit of the policies of this 
world, and the Spirit of God, cannot dwell in the same 
heart. If Jesus or his Apostles taught any one doctrine 
clearly, fully, and unequivocally, it is this doctrine, that 
'the cares of this world, the lusts of other things, and the 
deceitfulness of riches, stifle the word, and render it un- 
fruitful.' 

If any one would enjoy the power of godliness, he must 
give up his whole soul to it. The business of this life will 
be performed religiously, as a duty subordinate to the will 
of God. While his hands are engaged in that business 
which his own wants, or those of his household make neces- 
sary, his affections are above. He delights in God, and 
communes with him all the day. A Christian is not one 
who is pious by fits and starts, who is religious or devout 
on one day of the week, or for one hour of the day. it is 
the whole bent of his soul — it is the beginning, middle, and 
end of every day. To make his calling and election sure, 
is the business of his life. His mind rests only in God. 
He places the Lord always before him. This is his joy 
and his delight. He would not for the world have it other* 
wise. He would not enjoy eternal life, if he had it at his 
option, in any other way than that which God himself has 
proposed. He accedes to God's arrangements, not of ne- 
cessity, but of choice. His religious services are perfect 
freedom. He is free indeed. The Lord's commandments 
are not grievous, but joyful. The yoke of Christ is to him 
easy, and his burthen light. He will sing with David — 

The love that to thy laws I bear, 

No language can display ; 
They with fresh wonders entertain 

My ravish'd thoughts all day. 

The law that from thy mouth proceeds, 

Of more esteem I hold, 
Than untouched stores, than thousand mines 

Of silver and of gold. 

Whilst in the way of thy commands, 

More solid joy I found, 
Than had I been with vast increase 

Of envy'd riches crown'd. 

Thy testimonies I have kept, 

And constantly obey'd ; 
Because the love I bore to them 

Thy service easy made. 



292 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

I 

In the same ratio as Christians devoutly study the oracles 
of God, teach them to their children, practise all relative 
duties to society at large, and rise to a more elevated piety ? 
they will increase their influence in the great arid heavenly 
work o^ regenerating the world. 

A few remarks on the things wanting in the order of 
Christian assemblies, to give to their public meetings that 
influence on themselves and on society at large, will finish 
this section of our essay. 

Our heavenly Father wills our happiness in all his insti- 
tutions. His ordinances are, therefore, the surest, the sim- 
plest, and the most direct means of promoting our happi- 
ness. The Lord Jesus gave himself for the church that he 
might purify and bless it; and, therefore, in the church are 
all the institutions which can promote the individal and 
social good of the Christian community. In attending upon 
these institutions on the Lord's day, much depends upon 
the preparation of heart in all who unite to commemorate 
the death and resurrection of the Son of God. 

In adverting to the most scriptural and rational manner 
of celebrating or observing the day to the Lord, both for 
our own comfort and the regeneration of the world, we 
would first of all remark, that much depends upon the frame 
of mind, or preparation of heart, in which we visit the as- 
semblies of the saints. 

Suppose two persons, A and B, if you please, members of 
the same church, taking their seats together at the Lord's 
table. A, from the time he opened his eyes in the morning, 
was filled with the recollections of the Saviour's life, deaths 
and resurrection. In his closet, in his family, and along 
the way, he was meditating or conversing on the wonders 
of redemption, and renewing his recollections of the say- 
ings and doings of the Messiah. B, on the other hand, 
arose as on other days, and finding himself free from all 
obligations arising from the holiness of time, talks about 
the common affairs of every day, and allows his thoughts 
to roam over the business of the last week, or, perhaps, to 
project the business of the next. If he meet with a neigh- 
bor, friend, or brother, the news of the day is inquired after, 
expatiated upon, discussed; the crops, the markets, the 
public health, or the weather — the affairs of Europe, or the 
doings of Congress, or the prospects of some candidate for 
political honor, become the theme of conversation. As he 
rides or walks to the church, he chats upon ail, or any of 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 293 

these topics, till he enter the door of the meeting house. 
Now as A and B enter the house in very different states o{ 
mind, may it not be supposed that they will differ as much 
in their enjoyments, as in their morning thoughts? Or can 
B, by a single effort, unburthen his mind, call in the wan- 
derings of his thoughts, and in a moment transport himself 
from the contemplation of things on earth to things in hea- 
ven? if this can be imagined, then meditation and prepa- 
ration of heart are wholly unnecessary to the acceptable 
worship of God, and to the comfortable enjoyment of his 
institutions. 

But is it compatible with experience, or is it accordant to 
reason, that B can delight in God, and rejoice in commemo- 
rating the wonders of his redemption, while his thoughts are 
dissipated upon the mountains of a thousand vanities?— 
while, like a fool's eyes, his thoughts are roaming to the 
ends of the earth! Can he say, with a pious Jew, 'How 
amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul 
longs — yes, even faints, for the courts of the Lord! My 
heart and my flesh cry out ior the living God. Happy they 
who dwell in thy house; they will be still praising thee! 
A day in thy courts is better than a thousand . I had ra- 
ther be a door-keeper in the house of my God, than to dwell 
in the tents of wickedness. 1 — 'One thing have I desired oi 
the Lord, and that I will seek after, that I may dwell in the 
house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beau- 
ty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple. O send out 
thy light and thy truth! Let them lead me, let them bring 
me to thy holy hill and to thy tabernacles. Then will I go 
to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy; yes, I will 
praise thee,0 God, my GodP 

Or had the Jew a sublimer worship, more exalted views 
of God's salvation, and more piety than a Christian? Or 
were the ordinances of the Jewish sanctuary more enter- 
taining and refreshing than the ordinances of the Christian 
church? This will not be alleged; consequently, B, and 
all of that school, are utterly at fault when thev approach the 
house of God in such a state of mind, as they approach the 
market place, the forum, or the common resorts of this pre- 
sent world. 

Christians need not say in excuse for themselves, that all 
days are alike, that all places and times are alike holy, and 
that they ought to be in the best frame of mind all the time. 
For even concede them all their own positions, they will not 

25* 



294 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

contend that a man ought to speak to God, or to come into 
the presence of God, as they approach men. They will not 
say that they ought to have the same thoughts or feelings 
in approaching the Lord's table, as in approaching a com- 
mon table; or on entering a court of political justice, as in 
coming into the house of God. There is, in the words of 
Solomon the Wise, a season and time for every object and 
for every work: There is the Lord's day, the Lord's table, 
the Lord's house, and the Lord's people; and there are 
thoughts, and frames of mind, and behaviour compatible and 
incompatible with all these. 

in the public assembly the whole order of worship ought 
to do justice to what is passing in the minds of all the wor- 
shippers. That joy in the Lord, that peace and serenity of 
mind, that affection for the brethren, that reverence for the 
institutions of God's house, which all feel, should be mani- 
fest in all the business of the day. Nothing that would do 
injustice to all or any of these, ought ever to appear in the 
congregation of Jesus Christ our Lord. No levity, irreve- 
rence, no gloom, no sadness, no pride, no unkindness, no 
severity of behaviour towards any, no coldness, nothing but 
love, and peace, and joy, humility, and reverence should ap- 
pear in the face, in the word, or action of any disciple. 

These are not little matters. They all exert a salutary 
influence on the brethren and the strangers. These are 
visible and sensible displays of the temper and spirit of 
Christians; and if Paul thought it expedient to write of veils 
and long hair when admonishing a church ; to do all things 
decently and in order,' we, in this day of degeneracy, may 
be allowed to notice matters and things as minute as those 
before us. 

We intend not now to go into details of church order or 
Christian discipline, nor to expatiate on the necessity of de- 
voting a part of the time to singing, praying, reading, teach- 
ing, exhorting, commemorating, communicating; nor on 
how much of this or that is expedient. Times and circum- 
stances must decide how much time shall be taken up in 
these exercises, and when it shall be most fitting to meet, to 
adjourn, &c. Nor is it necessary now to say, that there 
must be scriptural order, and presidency, and proper discip- 
line, and due subordination to one another in the fear of God. 
We now speak rather of the manner in which all things are 
to be done, than of the things themselves, their necessity or 
value. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 295 

After noticing what in some instances appears to be want- 
ing in the manner of coming together on the Lord's day, 
we proceed to notice in order the things wanting in many 
congregations, for the purposes already specified. 

And first of all, be it observed, that in some churches 
there appears to be wanting a proper method of handling 
the Scriptures, to the edification of the brethren. It is ad- 
mitted by all the holy brethren, that the Scriptures of truth, 
called the living oracles,are the great instrument of God for 
all his purposes in the saints on earth. Through them they 
are converted to God, comforted, consecrated, made meet 
for an inheritance among the sanctified, and qualified for 
every good word and work. Every thing, then, depends 
upon the proper understanding of these volumes of inspira- 
tion. They can only operate as far as they are under- 
stood. 

The system of sermonizing on a text is now almost unit 
versa! ly abandoned, by all who intend that their hearers 
should understand the testimony of God. Orators and ex^ 
horters may select a word, a phrase, or a verse; but all who 
feed the flock of God with knowledge and understanding, 
know that this method is wholly absurd. Philological lec- 
tures upon a chapter are only a little better. The discus- 
sion of any particular topic, such as faith, repentance, elec- 
tion, the Christian calling, may sometimes be expedient: 
but in a congregation of Christians, the reading and exam- 
ining the different books in regular succession, every disci- 
ple having the volume in his hand, following up the con- 
nexion of things, examining parallel passages, interrogating 
and being interrogated, fixing the meaning of particular 
words and phrases, by comparson with the style of that 
writer or speaker, or with that of others; intermingling these 
exercises with prayer and praises, and keeping the narra- 
tive, the epi«tle, the speech, so long before the minds of all, 
as is necessary for the youngest disciple in the congrega- 
tion to understand it, and to become deeply interested in it, 
will do more in one year, than is done in many, on the plan 
of the popular meetings of the day. 

Great attention should be paid to all the allusions, in any 
composition, to the particularities of time, place, and cir- 
cumstance, to the geographical, historical, and chronological 
particulars of all questions of fact connected with all per- 
sons of note in the narratives: for these are often the best 
interpreters of style, and expositors of the meaning of what 
is written. 



296 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

This searening, examining, comparing, and ruminating 
upon the Holy Scriptures in private, in the family, in the 
congregation, cannot fail to make us learned in the know- 
ledge of God, and in the knowledge of man. The Bible 
contains more real learning than aii the volumes of men . It 
instructs us in all our natural, moral, political, and religious 
relations. Though it teaches us not astronomy, medicine, 
chemistry, mathematics, architecture, it gives us all that 
knowledge which adorns and dignifies our moral nature, and 
fits us for happiness. Happy the person who meditates upon 
it day and night! He grows and flourishes in moral health 
and vigor, as the trees upon the water courses. His leaf 
never fades— his fruit never fails. 

The congregations of the saints want system in further- 
ing the knowledge of this book. The simple reading of 
large portions in a desultory manner, is not without some 
good effect; for there is light, and majesty, and life, in all 
the oracles of God: no man can listen to them without edi- 
fication. Bu\ the profit accruing from such readings, is not 
a tithe of that which might be obtained in the proper syste- 
matic reading and examination of them. The congregation 
is the school of Christ, and every pupil there should feel that 
he has learned something every day he waits upon his Mas- 
ter. He must take the Master's book with him, and, like 
every other good and orderly pupil, he must open it and study 
it, with all the helps which the brotherhood, his school-fel- 
lows, can furnish for his more comprehensive knowledge of 
all its salutary communications. 

A Christian scribe, well instructed in its contents, or a 
plurality of such, who can bring out of their intellectual 
treasury things new and old, will greatly advance the stu- 
dents in this heavenly science; but in the absence of such, 
the students must be self taught; and self taught scholars 
are generally the best taught: for they capnot progress, un- 
less they study with diligence, and carefully learn the rudi- 
ments of every science. 

To give some idea of the diligence and attention to the 
minutest matters, which are necessary to proficiency in the 
knowledge of all that is written in the New Testament, we 
shall suppose that the disciples have for their lesson, on 
some particular day, the Nativity of the Messiah. The 
second chapter of Matthew is read. After reading this 
chapter, or the whole of the first section of Matthew's Tes- 
timony, the elder or president for the day asks some bro- 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 297 

ther, a good reader, to read what the other evangelists have 
testified on this subject. Mark and John being silent on 
the nativity, he reads Luke, 2d section, 2d chapter, from 
the 1st to the 41st verse. After the reading of this chap- 
ter, the following points are the subjects of inquiry, and 
most of them are proposed to the brethren for solution: — 

1. Who was Cesar Augustus, and over what people did he 
reign ? 

2. At what period of his reign was the edict of enrolment 
issued, or when did the first register take effect? 

3. What did Syria include, and what were its boundaries? 

4. Who presided over Syria at the time of the first re- 
gister? 

5. Who was king in Judea at this time? 

0, How far did Judea extend, or in what part of the Holy 
Land was it situate? 

7. In what country was Jerusalem, where situated, and 
by what other names was it known? 

8. What was the native city of Joseph? 

9. Where was Nazareth situated, and in what district? 

10. What was the boundary of Galilee, and what were its 
principal towns? 

11. In what canton or district was Bethlehem, and how 
far from Jerusalem? 

12. Who were the magians i 

13 Why was 'Herod alarmed, and all Jerusalem with 
him,' when the magians reported the Star in the East? 

14. W T hat were the scribes and chief priests assembled 
by Herod, and why were they called together? 

15. P>y what means did they decide the questions refer- 
red to them? 

16. On what Prophet do they rely, and where shall the 
quotation be found? 

17. Of what family and lineage were Joseph and Mary? 

18. By what means did the magians find the house in 
which the Messiah was born? 

19. Why did the magians not return to Herod? 

20. Whether did the shepherds of Bethlehem, or the east- 
ern magians, first pay their respects to the Messiah? 

21. In what quarter of the globe does Egypt lie? 

22. How far from Bethlehem? 

23. How long was the Messiah kept in Egypt? 

24. Who predicted his return from Egypt, and where shall 
it be found? 



298 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

25. Who foretold the slaughter of the male infants in 
Bethlehem, and what instigated Herod to this cruel massa- 
cre? 

26. Who succeeded Herod in the throne of Judea? 

27. Why did Joseph retire to Nazareth? 

28. What Prophet foretold this circumstance, and where 
shall it be found? 

These matters being all ascertained, to which the maps, 
geographical and chronological indexes, and the appendix to 
the Family Testament, will greatly contribute, some moral 
reflections will naturally occur; for in all these incidents 
are manifest the wisdom, care, and economy of our heaven- 
ly Father, his faithfulness, condescension, and love; the 
great variety of his instruments, and agents; the ease with 
which he frustrates the evil counsels and machinations of 
his enemies; the infallible certainty of his foreknowledge; 
the perfect free agency of men, good and evil; the deep 
humiliation of his only begotten Son in all the circumstan- 
ces of his nativity. Irresistible arguments in favor of his 
pretensions may be drawn from these ancient prophecies, 
from their minuteness of time, place, and circumstance ? 
many eloquent and powerful lessons on human pride, vanity, 
and arrogance, may be deduced from the birth place, cradle, 
and family connexions of the Heir of the Universe ; and ma- 
ny other touching appeals to the heart, which the birth, cir- 
cumcision, and dedication of the Messiah, with all the inci- 
dents in Bethlehem, Jerusalem, and the Temple, connected 
with his first appearance on earth furnish, will present them- 
selves with unfading freshness and beauty, to the brother- 
hood of Christ. 

A hint to the wise is sufficient. Were this method pur- 
sued only two hours every Lord's day, every disciple giving 
his heart to the work; and were the results then compared 
with the products of the scrap Doctors, or sermonizers to 
sleeping and dreaming hearers, no man, having any regard 
for his reputation for good sense, could give his vote for the 
popular system. 

A reformation in the manner of handling the living ora- 
cles is much wanting; and the sooner and more generally 
it is attempted, the greater will be the regenerating influence 
of the brotherhood on the world. Intelligent in the Holy 
Scriptures, clothed with the armor of light, every disciple 
going forth, will be a David against the Philistines — a host 
against the armies of the aliens. And better still, the words 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 299 

of heavenly favor dwelling in his heart, he will carry with 
him into every society a fragrance like the rose of Sharon 
— a sweetness of perfume like a garden which the Lord has 
blessed. 

There appears to be wanting in some congregations a 
proper attention to discipline, and a due regard to decorum? 
in the management of such cases as occur. In every fam- 
ily, and in every congregation, there is occasional need of 
discipline. Offences, delinquencies, and apostaeies, did 
occur in the congregations over which the apostles either 
were, or had been, presidents; and they will happen again 
in this state of discipline and trial, in which we are all pla- 
ced. They must be expected ; and every congregation ought 
to be prepared to act upon the emergency with intelli- 
gence and decorum. Much injury has been done to the 
progress of churches, by a remissness in attention to such 
cases, and in the manner they have been disposed of when 
taken up. 

Nothing can be more preposterous and revolting to every 
sentiment of good order and decorum, than that every of- 
fender and offence should, at the very offset, be dragged 
into the public assembly. Persons who have the care of a 
congregation, the seniors whose age and experience have 
taught them prudence, ought to be first informed of such 
cases: and they ought to present the matter to the congre- 
gation. Every novice is not to feel himself at liberty to 
disturb the congregation by presenting, on his own respon- 
sibility, and at his own discretion, a complaint against a 
brother, whether it be of a public or private nature. 

But we are now speaking of the manner of procedure in 
such cases. The most tender regard for the feelings of all, 
the utmost sympathy for the offender, the most unyielding 
firmness in applying the correctives which the Head of the 
church has commanded, and the necessicy of acting prompt- 
ly in accordance with the law in the case, are matters of 
much importance. 

No passion, no partiality, no bad feeling — nothing but 
love and piety, but faithfulness and truth; nothing but cour- 
tesy and gentleness, should ever appear in the house of God, 
And when any one is found guilty and excluded from the 
society, it should be done with all solemnity, and with pray- 
er, that the institution of Christ may be a blessing to the 
transgressor. 

But evil-doers, or those that act not honorably according 



800 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

to the law of Christ, ought not to be tolerated in the profes- 
sed family of God. Such persons are a dead weight on the 
whole society — spots in every feast of love, and blemishes 
upon the whole profession. One sinner destroys much 
good: yet separation or abscision, like amputation, is only 
to be used in the last stage, when all other remedies, of re- 
monstrance and admonition, expostulation and entreaty, 
have failed. To prevent gangrene, or an injury to the whole 
body, amputation is necessary, an indispensable remedy. 
More strictness, more firmness, and more tenderness in such 
cases, would add greatly to the moral influence of every so- 
ciety. A few persons walking together in the bonds of 
Christian affection, and under the discipline of Christ, is 
better than the largest assembly in which there are visibly 
and manifestly, many who fear not God, and keep not his 
commandments. 

In the house of God, all should be purity, reverence, 
meekness, brotherly kindness, and love. Confidence in the 
honesty and sincerity of our brethren, is the life of commu- 
nion, To feel ourselves united with them who are deter- 
mined tor eternal life, and resolved to seek first of all, chief 
of all, above all, the kingdom of heaven: and the righteous- 
ness required in it, is most animating, comforting, exhilara* 
ting. But to be doubtful whether we are uniting with a mass 
of ignorance, corruption, and apathy, is as rottenness in the 
bones; love waxes cold, and then we have the form, without 
the power of godliness. 

That the church may have a regenerating influence upon 
society at large, there is wanting a fuller display of Chris- 
tian philanthropy in all her public meetings; care for the 
poor manifested in the liberality of her contributions; the 
expression of the most unfeigned sympathy for the distresses 
of mankind, not only among the brotherhood, but among al) 
men; and an ardent zeal for the conversion of sinners pro- 
portioned to her professed appreciation of the value of her 
own salvation, and to her resources and means of enlighten- 
ing the world, on the things unseen and eternal. The full 
display of these attributes, are the most efficient means of 
.causing the gospel to sound abroad, and to achieve new 
conquests among our fellow citizens. The Christian health 
and vigor of every church, is to be estimated more by her 
exertions and success in bringing sinners home to God, 
than by all her other attainments. Too long has it been 
considered the duty, the almost exclu duty of the 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 301 

preacher, to convert the world. He must spend his time s 
and wear out his constitution in journeyings and preach- 
ings, while the individual members of the church are to 
mind their own business, seek their own wealth and domes- 
tic comfort. He must endure the heat and the cold, forsake 
his wife and family, and commit the management of his 
affairs to others, while they have only to look on and pray 
for his success. Strange infatuation ! Has he received a 
commission from the skies — has he been drafted out of the 
ranks to go to war, and they all left at home to take care of 
their wives and children! Some may believe this — some 
may imagine that it is his duty alone to spend his time and 
his talents in this work, and theirs daily to labor for their 
own interest and behoof; but surely such are not the views 
and feelings of our brethren! 

The work of the Lord will never progress — or in other 
words, the regenerating influence of the church will amount 
to little or nothing, so long as it is thought to be not equally 
the duty of every member, or the special duty of one or two, 
denominated preachers, to labor for the Lord. 

There is either a special call, a general call, or no call 
at all, to labor for the conversion of the world. If there be 
a few specially called, the rest have nothing to do but to 
mind their own concerns; Ho seek their own things, and not 
the things of Jesus Christ. 9 If none be called, then it is 
the duty of none, and the Lord has nothing for his people 
to do — no world to convert; or, at least, nothing for them 
to do in that work. None of us are prepared for the conse- 
quences of either of these assumptions. It follows, then, 
that it is the duty of all to labor according to their respec- 
tive abilities in this work. All are called to labor for the 
Lord. I hold that every citizen in Christ's kingdom is 
bound to take up arms for the King, as much as 1 am; and 
if he cannot go to fight the battles of the Lord, he must 
take care of the wives and children of those who can, and 
who will fight for their King and country. But the ex- 
pense of the war must be borne by the subjects of the 
crown; and as the Lord will not have any tax-gatherers in 
his kingdom, but accepts only voluntary contributions, he 
makes a mark over against the names of those who do no- 
thing, and he will settle with them at his return. He calls 
even the contributions for the gospel, made by those at 
home, 'a fragrant odor, a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing 
to God, 9 

26 



302 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

But we are afraid of doing any thing of this sort, lest we 
should be like some other people, who we think have acted 
imprudently. Strange, indeed, that when any thing has 
been once abused, it is never again to be used ! But 1 have 
inadvertently strayed off from my purpose. The manner 
in which the brethren labor for the salvation of the world, 
is all that come3 within our prescribed limits. On this 
enough has been said. Let the brethren solemnly consider 
the things, that are wanting to give to their meetings that 
influence, which they ought to exert upon themselves and 
upon society at large. 

We are as susceptible of receiving moral and religious 
advantages, from our own good order and decorum in the 
congregation, as those who attend our meetings as specta- 
tors. And in this instance, as well as in all the variety of 
doing good, he that waters others is again watered in return ; 
for he that blesses others, is always blessed in blessing 
them. None enjoy the blessings of the gospel more fully, 
than they who are most active and influential in blessing 
others. What happy seasons are those in which we see 
many turning to the Lord! Now if we would have a per- 
petual feast, we must be perpetually devoted to the promo- 
tion of the happiness of others. We must live for God, as 
well as live to God. 

In fining up these outlines, other matters still more mi- 
nute, but, perhaps, equally important, will present them- 
selves to the attention of the brethren. Now we cannot 
set about these matters too soon. The time has again come, 
when judgment must begin at the house of God. The peo- 
ple who have long enjoyed the word of life and the Chris- 
tian institutions, must soon come to a reckoning. They 
must give an account of their stewardship, for the Lord has 
promised to call them to a judgment. An era is just at the 
door, which will be known as the Regeneration for a thou- 
sand years to come. The Lord Jesus will judge that adul- 
terous brood, and give them over to the burning flame, who 
have broken the covenant, and formed alliances with the 
governments of the earth. Now the cry is heard in our 
land, 'Come out of her, my people, that you partake not of 
her sins, and that you may not receive of her plagues.' The 
Lord Jesus will soon rebuild Jerusalem, and raise op the 
tebernacle of David which have so long been in ruins. Lei 
the church prepare herself for the return of her Lord, and 
see that she make herself ready for his appearance. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTE3I 303 



THE REGENERATION OF THS WORLD, 

All the kingdoms of this world shall soon become the 
kingdoms of our Lord the King. He will hurl all the pre- 
sent potentates from their thrones. He will grind to powder 
thy despotisms, civil and ecclesiastic; and with the blast of 
his mouth, give them to the four winds of heaven. The 
antichristian power, whether it be called Papistical, Maho- 
rnedan, Pagan, or Atheistic, will as certainly be destroyed, 
us Jesus reigns in heaven. No trace of them shall .remain. 
The best government on earth, call it English or American, 
has within it the seeds of its own destruction — carries in its 
constitution a millstone, which will sink it to the bottom of 
the sea. They acknowledge not that God has set his Christ 
upon his throne. They will not kiss the Son. Society 
under their economy is not blessed. The land mourns 
through the wickedness of those that sit in high places. 
Ignorance, poverty, and crime abound, because ofthe injus- 
tice and iniquities of those who guide the destinies of na- 
tions. Men that fear not God, that love not his Son, and 
that regard not the maxims of his government, yet wear the 
sword, and sway the sceptre in all lands. 

This is wholly adverse to the peace and happiness ofthe 
world. Therefore, he will break them to pieces like a pot- 
ter's vessel, and set up an order of society in which justice, 
inflexible justice shall have uncontrolled dominion. Jesus 
will be universally acknowledged by all the race of living 
men, and all nations shall do him homage. This state of 
society will be the consummation of the Christian religion, 
in all its moral influences and tendencies upon mankind. 

How far this change is to be effected by moral, and how 
far by physical means, is not the subject of our present 
inquiry. But the preparation of a people for the coming 
of the Lord, must be the result of the restoration of the 
ancient gospel and order of things. And come when it 
may, the day of the regeneration of the world will be a 
day as wonderful and terrible as was the day of the deluge, 
of Sodom's judgment, or of Jerusalem's catastrophe. Who 
shall stand when the Lord does this? But all the regenera- 
tions, physical and moral, individual, congregational, or na- 
tional, are but types and shadows, or means of preparation 
for the — 



304 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 



REGENERATION OF THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH. 

The Bible begins with the generations of the heavens 
and the earth; but the Christian revelation ends with the 
regenerations, or new creation of the heavens and the earth. 
This is the ancient promise of God, confirmed to us by the 
Christian Apostles. The present elements are to be changed 
by fire. The old or antediluvian earth, was purified by 
water; but the present earth is reserved for fire, with all the 
works of man that are upon it. It shall be converted into a 
lake of liquid fire. But the dead in Christ will have been 
regenerated in body, before the old earth is regenerated by 
fire. The bodies of the saints will be as homogeneous with 
the new earth and heavens, as their present bodies are with 
the present heavens and earth. God recreates, regenerates^ 
hut annihilates nothing; and, therefore, the present earth is 
not to be annihilated. The best description we can give of 
this regeneration, is in the words of one who had a vision 
af it on the island of Patmos. He describes it as far as it is 
connected with the New Jerusalem, which is to stand upon 
the new earth, under the canopy of the new heaven : — 

'And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the for- 
mer heaven and the former earth were passed away; and 
the sea was no more. And 1, John, saw the holy city, the 
New Jerusalem, descending from God out of heaven, pre- 
pared like a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard 
a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold the tabernacle 
of God is with men, and he shall pitch his tent among them, 
and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be 
among them — their God. And he shall wipe away every 
tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more, nor grief, 
nor crying; nor shall there be any more pain: for the for- 
mer things are passed away.' 

A WORD TO THE MORAL REGENERATORS OF THIS AGE. 

God, our heavenly Father, works by means, as we all 
confess. His means are wisely adapted to the ends he has 
in view. His agents are the best agents for the work he 
has to accomplish. He employs not physical means nor 
agents, for moral ends and purposes • Nor does he produce 
physical effects, by moral means and agents. He has been 
pleased to employ not angels, but men in the work of re- 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 305 

generating the world. Men have written, printed, and pub- 
lished the gospel for nearly two thousand years. They 
have perpetuated it from generation to generation. They 
have translated it from language to language, and carried 
it from country to country. They have preached it in word 
and in deed, and thus it has come down to our days. 

During the present administration of the reign of 
Heaven, no change is to be expected; no new mission is 
to be originated, no new order of preachers is to be insti- 
tuted. The King has gone to a far country; and before his 
departure, he called together his servants, and committed 
to them the management of his estate till he return. He 
has not yet come to reckon with them. They were com- 
manded first to proclaim the doctrine of his reign; then to 
write it in a book, and to commit it to faithful men, who 
should be able to teach it correctly to others. By these 
faithful men the records have been kept; and through their 
vigilance and industry, they have been guarded from ccr~ 
ruption, interpolation, and change. One generation handed 
them over to the next; and if ignorant and unfaithful copy, 
ists neglected their duty, others more faithful have correct- 
ed them; and now we are able to hear the words which 
Jesus spoke, and to read the very periods penned by the 
Apostles. 

Thus, whatever the Prophets and the Apostles have 
achieved since their death, has been accomplished by hu- 
man agents like ourselves. Where men have not carried 
this intelligence in speech or writing, not one of our race 
knows God or his anointed Saviour. No angel nor Holy 
Spirit has been sent to the Pagan nations: and God has 
exerted no power out of his word to enlighten or reclaim 
savage nations. These indisputable facts and truths have 
much moral meaning, and ought to give a strong impulse to 
our efforts to regenerate the world. 

The best means of doing this is the object now before us; 
and this is one, the importance of which cannot be easily 
exaggerated. There are three ways of proceeding in this 
case, which now seem to occupy a considerable share of 
public attention. These are properly called theorizing, 
declaiming, and preaching; on each of which we may offer 
a remark or two in passing. 

The theorizers are those who are always speculating 
upon correct notions, or the true theory of conversion. 
They are great masters of method, and with some of them 

26* 



306 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

it is a ruinous error to place faith before regeneration, or 
repentance after faith. Heresy, with these, is the derange- 
ment of the method, which these have proposed for God to 
work by in converting the sinner. And the true faith 
which is connected with salvation, is an apprehension of this 
theory and acquiescence in it. These are all theorists, 
heady, or speculative Christians; and with them the whole 
scheme of redemption is a splendid theory. 

Our maxim is, Theory for the Doctors, and medicine for 
the sick. Doctors fatten on theories, but the patients die 
who depend on theory for cure. A few grains of practice 
is worth a pound of theory. The mason and the carpenter 
build the house by rule; but he that inhabits it, lives by 
eating and drinking. No man ever was cured physically, 
politically, morally, or religiously, by learning a correct 
theory of his physical, political, moral, or religious malady. 
As soon might we expect to heal an ulcer on the liver by a 
discourse upon that organ, its functions, its diseases, and 
their cure, as to restore a sinner by means of the theory of 
faith, repentance, regeneration, or effectual calling. But 
on this enough has already been said, and more than is ne- 
cessary to convince those who can think, and who dare to 
reason on such' themes. 

The declaimers are not those only who eulogize virtue 
and reprobate vice; but that large and respectable class 
who address themselves to the passions, to the hopes and 
fears of men. They are those who are so rhetorical upon 
the joys of heaven, and the terrors of hell: who horrify, 
terrify, and allure by the strength of their descriptions, the 
liexions of their voices, the violence of their gestures, and 
their touching anecdotes. Their hearers are either dissolv- 
ed in tears, or frantic with terror. These talk much about 
the heart; and on their theory, if man's heart was extract- 
ed, all his religion would be extracted with it. The religion 
of their converts flows in their blood, and has its foundation 
in their passions. 

The preachers, properly so called, first address themselves 
to the understanding, by a declaration or narrative of the 
wonderful works of God. They state, illustrate, and prove 
the great facts of the gospel; they lay the whole record 
before their hearers; and when they have testified what 
God has done, what he has promised, and threatened, they 
--short their hearers on these premises, and persuade them 
to obey the gospel, to surrender themselves to the guidance 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 807 

and direction of the Son of God. They address themselves 
to the whole man, his understanding, will, and affections, 
and approach the heart by taking the citadel of the under- 
standing. 

The accomplished and wise proclaimer of the word, will 
find it always expedient to address his audience in their 
proper character; to approach them through their prejudi- 
ces, and never to find fault with those prepossessions, which 
are not directly opposed to the import and design of the 
ministry of reconciliation. He will set before them the 
models found in the sacred history, which show that the 
same discourse is not to be preached in every place and to 
every assembly, even when it is necessary to proclaim the 
same gospel. Paul's addresses to the Athenians, Lycao- 
nians, Antiochians, to Felix, the Jailor, and king Agrippa, 
are ail full of instruction on this topic. 

Augustine has written a treatise on preaching, which 
Luther proposed to himself as a model; but it is said that 
Augustine fell as far short of his own precepts, as did any 
of his contemporaries. We all can with more facility give 
precepts to others, than conform to them ourselves. In Au- 
gustus's treatise, which in some respects influenced and 
formed the style and plan of Luther, and through him all 
the Protestants, there is much said on the best rhetorical 
mode "of exhibiting the truth to others;" but it savors 
more of the art of the schoolmen, than of the wisdom of 
the Apostles. He labors more on the best style and mode 
of expressing one's self, than on the things to be said. 

Our best precepts in this matter are derived rather from 
the books of Deuteronomy and Nehemiah, than from any 
other source out of the New Testament. 7'he book of 
Deuteronomy may be regarded as a series of sermons or 
discourses, delivered to the Jews by their great teacher, 
Moses, rather than as a part of the Jewish history. Two 
things in this book deserve great attention. The first is 
the simplicity, fulness, and particularity of his narratives 
of the incidents on the journey through the wilderness; — 
God's doings and theirs, for the last forty years, are faith* 
fully and intelligibly laid before them. The next is the use 
made of these facts; the conclusions deduced, the arguments 
drawn, and the exhortations tendered from these facts. For 
a fair and beautiful specimen of this, let the curious reader 
take up and carefully read the first four chapters of the book 
of Deuteronomy. The fact and the application, the argu- 



308 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM, 

ment and the exhortation after the manner of Moses, can- 
not fail to instruct him. 

The writings of the scribes during the captivity, teach 
us how to address a people that have lost the true meaning 
of the oracles of God. The readings, expositions, exhorta- 
tions, and prayers of Ezra and Nehemiah, are full of in- 
struction to Christians in these days of Babylonish cap- 
tivity. To address a people long accustomed to hearing 
the Scriptures, yet ignorant of them, and consequently dis- 
obedient, is a matter that require? all the wisdom and pru- 
dence which can be acquired from Jewish and Christian re- 
cords. 

The manner of address, next to the matter of it, is most 
important. The weightiest arguments, the most solemn 
appeals, the most pathetic expostulations, if not sustained 
by the gravity, sincerity, and piety of the speaker, will be 
like water spilled upon the ground. A little levity, a few 
witticisms, a sarcastic air, a conceited attitude, or a harsh 
expression, will often neutralize all the excellencies of the 
most scriptural and edifying discourse. The great work of 
regenerating men is too solemn, too awfully grave and di- 
vine, to allow any thing of the sort. Humility, sincerity, 
devotion, and all benevolence in aspect, as well as in lan- 
guage, are essential to a successful proclamation of the 
great facts of the Living Oracles. He that can smile in 
his discourse at the follies, need not weep over the misfor- 
tunes, of the ignorant and superstitious. He that can, while 
preaching the gospel, deride and ridicule the errors of his 
fellow professors, is, for the time being, disqualified to per- 
suade them to accept of truth, or gladly to receive the mes- 
sage of salvation. 

Those preachers have been sadly mistaken, who have 
sought popularity by their eccentricities, and courted smiles 
rather than souls, " — who, by their anecdotes and foolish 
jests, told with the Bible before them, have thought to make 
themselves useful by making themselves ridiculous — and 
to regenerate men by teaching them how to violate the pre- 
cepts of the gospel, and to disdain the examples of the 
Great Teacher and his Apostles. 

It will not do. These are the weapons of this world, 
and no part of the armor of light. Jesus and his Apostles 
never sanctioned, by precept or example, such a course; 
and it is condemned by all sensible men, whether Jews or 
Gentiles, professors or profane. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 309 

In attempting to regenerate men, we must place before 
them the new man, not the old man, in the preacher as 
well as in the discourse; and while we seek out arguments 
to convince and allure them, we must show them in our 
speech and behaviour, that we believe what we preach. 
So did all the Apostles and Evangelists. They commend- 
ed themselves to every man's conscience in the sight of 
Jesus Christ. 

Error must be attacked. It must be opposed by the truth. 
But it may be asked, whether the darkness may not be more 
easily dissipated by the introduction of light, than by elab- 
orate discourses upon its nature and attributes. So with 
moral darkness, or error. To dissipate it most effectually, 
the easiest and readiest way is to introduce the light of truth. 
No preacher is obliged to learn all the errors of all ages, 
that he may be able to oppose them ; nor is a congregation 
enlightened in the knowledge of God by such expositions of 
error. Present opposing errors may require attention; but, 
to attack these most successfully, it is only necessary to en- 
force the opposing truths. 

This is a very grave subject, and requires very grave at- 
tention. Much depends upon a rational and scriptural de- 
cision of the question, Which is the most effectual way to 
oppose and destroy error? To aid us in such an inquiry, 
it is necessary to examine how the Prophets and Apostles 
opposed the errors of their times. The world was as full 
of error in those days as it has ever been since. The idol- 
atries of the Pagan world, and the various doctrines of the 
sects of philosophers, in and out of the land of Israel, 
threw as much labor into their hands, as the various here- 
sies of apostate Christendom have thrown into ours. Their 
general rule was to turn the artillery of light, and to gather 
into a focus the arrows of day, upon the dark shades of any 
particular error. Their philosophy was; — The splendors 
of light most clearly display the blackness of darkness, 
and scatter it from its presence. Thus they opposed idol- 
atry, superstition, and error of every name. Going forth 
in the armor of light, as the son in the morning, the shades 
of the night retired from their presence, and the cheering 
beams of day so gladdened the eyes of their converts, that 
they loved darkness no more. Let us go and do likewise. 

An intimate acquaintance with the Holy Scriptures is 
the best apparatus for the work of regenerating men. The 
best piece I have found in the celebrated treatise of Au~ 
gustine on preaching, is the following:— 



310 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

"He, then, who handles and teaches the word of God ? 
should be a defender of the true faith, and a vanquisher of 
error; and in accomplishing this, the object of preaching, be 
should conciliate the adverse, excite the remiss, and pour 
out to the ignorant their duty and future prospects. Whe% 
however, he finds his audience favorably disposed, atten- 
tive, and docile, or succeeds in rendering them so, then 
other things are to be done, as the case may require. If 
they are to be instructed, then, to make them acquainted 
with the subject in question, narration must be employed; 
and to establish what is doubtful, resort must be had to 
reasoning and evidence. If they are to be moved rather 
than instructed, then, to arouse them from stupor in putting 
their knowledge into practice, and bring them to yield full 
assent to those things which they confess to be true, there 
will be need of the higher powers of eloquence; it will be 
necessary to entreat, reprove, excite, restrain, and do what- 
soever else may prove effectual in moving the heart. 

"All this, indeed, is what most men constantly do, with 
respect to those things which they undertake to accomplish 
by speaking. Some, however, in their way of doing it, are 
blunt, frigid, inelegant ; others, ingenious, ornate, vehement. 
Now he who engages in the business of which I am treating., 
must be able to speak and dispute with wisdom, even if he 
cannot do so with eloquence, in order that he may profit 
his audience; although he will profit them less in this case, 
than if he could combine wisdom and eloquence together. 
He who abounds in eloquence without wisdom, is certainly 
so much the more to be avoided, from the very fact that the 
hearer is delighted with what it is useless to hear, and thinks 
what is said to be true, because it is spoken with elegance. 
Nor did this sentiment escape the notice of those among the 
ancients, who yet regarded it as important to teach the art of 
rhetoric; they confessed that wisdom without eloquence pro- 
fited states but very little, but that eloquence without wis- 
dom profited them not at all, and generally proved highly 
injurious. If, therefore, those who taught the precepts of 
eloquence, even though ignorant of the true, that is, the ce- 
lestial wisdom 'which coraest down from the Father of lights,' 
were compelled by the instigations of truth to make such a 
confession, and that too in the very books in which their 
principles were developed; are we not under far higher ob- 
ligations to acknowledge the same thing, who are the sons 
and daughters of this heavenly wisdom? Now a man 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 311 

speaks with greater or less wisdom, according to the pro- 
ficiency he has made in the sacred Scriptnres. 1 do not 
mean in reading them and committing them to memory, 
but in rightly understanding them, and diligently search- 
ing into their meaning. There are those who read them 
and yet neglect them — who read them to remember the 
words, but neglect to understand them. To these, without 
any doubt, those persons are to be preferred, who retaining 
less the words of the Scriptures, search after their genuine 
signification with the inmost feelings of the heart. But 
better than both is he, who can repeat them when he pleases, 
and at the same time understands them as they ought to be 
understood."* 

Luther's favorite maxim was, "Bonus Textuarius, Bonus 
Theologusf or, One well acquainted with the Scriptures 
makes a good theologian. 

There is one thing, above all others, which must never 
be lost sight of by him, who devotes himself to the work of 
regeneration. This all-important consideration is, that the 
and and object of all his labors is to impress the moral 
image of God upon the moral nature of man. To draw this 
image upon the heart, to transform the mind of man into 
the likeness of God in all moral feeling, is the end proposed 
in the remedial system. The mould into which the mind 
of man is to be cast is the Apostles' doctrine; or the seal 
by which this impression is to be made is the testimony of 
God. The gospel facts are like so many types, which, 
when scientifically arranged by an accomplished composi- 
tor, make a complete form, upon which, when the mind of 
man is placed by the power which God has given to the 
preacher, every type makes its full impression upon the 
heart. There is written upon the understanding, and en- 
graved upon the heart, the will, or law, or character of our 
Father who is in heaven. 

The Apostles were these accomplished compositors, who 
gave us a perfect form of sound words? Our instrumen- 
tality consists in bringing the minds of men to this form, or 
impressing it upon their hearts. To do this most effectual- 
ly, the preacher or evangelist must have the word of Christ 
dwelling in him richly, in all wisdom; and he must 'study 
to show himself an approved workman, irreproachable, 
rightly dividing the word of truth. 9 He that is most elo„ 

* From the Biblical Repository, p. 574. Translated from the Latin by A. O. 
Taylor, of Andovor, Mass. 



312 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

quent and wise in the Holy Scriptures, he who has them 
most at command, will have the most power with men; be- 
cause being furnished with the words of the Holy Spirit, he 
has the very arguments, which the Spirit of God chooses to 
employ in quickening the dead, in converting sinners. For 
to the efficiency of the living word not only Paul deposes, 
but James and Peter also bear ample testimony. 'Of his own 
will he has begotten us, by the word of truth, that we might 
be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.'* 'Having been 
regenerated, not by corruptible seed, but by incorruptible*, 
through the word of the living God, which remains.'! To 
the fruits of his labors, such a preacher with Paul may say, 
'To Jesus Christ, through the gospel, I have regenerated, or 
begotten you.'' 

Thus, in the midst of numerous interruptions, we have 
attempted to lay before the minds of our readers the whole 
doctrine of Regeneration, in all its length and breadth, in 
the hope, that after a more particular attention to its mean- 
ing and value, by the blessing of God, they may devote 
themselves more successfully to this great work ; and not 
only enjoy more of the Holy Spirit themselves, but be more 
useful in forwarding the moral regeneration of the world. 

To God our Father, through the great Author of the 
Christian faith, who has preserved us in health in this day 
of affliction and great distress, be everlasting thanks for 
the renewing of our minds by the Holy Spirit, and for the 
hope of the regeneration of our bodies, of the heavens and 
of the earth, at the appearance of the Almighty Regenera 
tor, who comes to make all things new! Amen. 

* James i. 18. f 1 Peter i. 23, 



Breaking the ILoaf* 



Man was not made for the Christian Institution; but the 
Christian Institution for man. None but a master of the 
human constitution — none but one perfectly skilled in all 
the animal, intellectual, and moral endowments of man, 
could perfectly adapt an institution to man in reference to 
ail that he is, and to all that he is destined to become. Such 
is the Christian Institution' Its evidences of a divine ori. 
gin increase and brighten, in the ratio of our progress in th e 
science of man. He who most attentively and profoundly 
♦reads himself, and contemplates the picture which the Lo r d 
of this Institution has drawn of him, will be most willing to 
confess, that man is wholly incapable of originating it. He 
is ignorant of himself, and of the race from which he 
sprang, who can persuade himself that man, in any age, or 
in any country, was so far superior to himself as to have 
invented such an Institution as the Christian. That de- 
velopment of man, in all his natural, moral, and religious 
relations, which the Great Teacher has given, is not farther 
beyond the intellectual powers of man, than is the creation 
of the Sun, Moon, and Stars beyond his physical strength. 

The eye of man cannot see itself; the ear of man cannot 
hear itself; nor the understanding of man discern itself; 
but there is one who sees the human eye, who hears the 
human ear, and who discerns the human understanding. 
He it is, who alone is skilled in revealing man to himself, 
and himself to man. He who made the eye of man, can 
he not see ? He who made the ear of man, can he not hear ? 
He who made the heart of man, can he not know? 

It is as supernatural to adapt a system to man, as it is to 
create him. He has never thought much upon his own 
powers, who has not seen as much wisdom on the outside, 
as in the inside of the human head. To suit the outside to 
the inside, required as much wisdom as to suit the inside to 
the outside, and yet the exterior arrangement exists for the 
interior. To fashion a casement for the human eoul exhibits 
as many attributes of a creator, as to fashion a human spirit 

27 



314 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

for its habitation. Man, therefore,- could as easily make 
himself, as a system of religion to suit himself. It will be 
admitted, that it calls for as much skill to adapt the appen- 
dages to the human eye, as the human eye to its appenda- 
ges. To us it is equally plain, that it requires as much 
wisdom to adapt a religion to man, circumstanced as he is 9 
as to create him an intellectual and moral being. 

But to understand the Christian Religion, we must study 
it; and to enjoy it, we must practise it. To come into the 
kingdom of Jesus Christ is one thing, and to live as a wise, 
a good, and a happy citizen, is another. As every human 
kingdom has its constitution, laws, ordinances, manners, 
and customs; so has the kingdom of the Great King. He, 
then, who would be a good and happy citizen of it, must 
understand and submit to its constitution, laws, ordinances, 
manners, and customs. 

The object of the present essay is to develope one of the 
institutions or ordinances of this kingdom; and this wa 
shall attempt by stating, illustrating, and sustaining the fol- 
lowing propositions: — 

Prop, I.— There is a house on earth, called the house of 

God. 

The most high God dwells not in temples made with hu- 
man hands; yet he condescended in the age of types to 
have a temple erected for himself, which he called his 
house, and glorified it with the symbols of his presence 
In allusion to this, the Christian community, organized 
under the government of his Son, is called his house and 
temple. 'You are God's building,' says Paul to a Chris- 
tian community. This building is said to be 'built upon 
the Apostles and Prophets — Jesus Christ himself being 
the chief corner stone.' 'Know you not that you are the 
temple of God? The temple of God is holy, which temple 
you are.'* 

But in allusion to the Jewish temple, the Christian church 
occupies the middle space between the outer court and the 
holiest of all. 'The holy places made with hands were 
figures of the true.' The common priests went always into 
the first tabernacle or holy place, and the high priest once a 
year into the holiest of all. Thus our Great High Pries| 



* 1 Cor. iii. 16, 17. 



THE CHPwISTlAN SYSTEM 315 

went once for all into the true 'holiest of all, 1 into the real 
presence of God, and has permitted us Christians as a royal 
priesthood, as a chosen race, to enter always into the only 
holy place now on earth — the Christian church. 'As liv- 
ing stones we are built up into a spiritual house, a holy 
priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices most acceptable to 
God by Jesus Christ,'* 

But all we aim at here is to show that the community un- 
der Christ is called Hhe house of God? Paul once calls 
it a house of God, and once the house of God. An indi- 
vidual or single congregation, he calls '« house of God?] 
1 have written to you, 'that you may know how to behave 
yourself in a house of God, which is the congregation of 
God.'i And in his letter to the Hebrews,)] speaking of the 
whole Christian community, he calls it the bouse of God.} 
^Having a Great High Priest over the house of God, let us 
draw near,' &c« It is, then, apparent, that there is under 
the Lord Messiah, now on earth, an institution called the 
house of God; and this resembles the holy place between 
the outer court and the holiest of all, which is the propos"' 
lion to be proved. 

Prop. II.— In the house of God tliere is always the table of 
the Lord. 

As there is an analogy between the Jewish hoiy place, and 
the Christian house of God; so there is an analogy between 
the furniture of the first tabernacle or holy place, and those 
who officiated in it; and the furniture of the Christian house 
of God, and those who officiate in it. 'In the first taberna- 
cle, says Paul, which is called holy, there were the candle- 
stick, and the table, and the showbread,' or the loaves of the 
presence. On the golden table every Sabbath day were 
placed twelve loaves, which were exhibited there for one week, 
and on the next Sabbath they were substituted by twelve 
fresh loaves sprinkled over with frankincense. The loaves 
which were removed from the table, were eaten by the 
priests. These were called in the Hebrew 'the loaves of the 
faces? or the loaves of the presence. This emblem of the 
abundance of spiritual food in the presence of God for al! 
who dwell in the holy place, stood always upon the golden 



* 1 Peter ii, 5. f i Tim. iii. 15 % Greek, oikos Theou. \\ Heb, x. 21, 
$ Greek, ho oikos Theou. 



318 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM, 

table furnished by the twelve tribes, even in the widerness. 
The light in the first tabernacle was not from without, bul 
from the seven lamps placed on the golden candlestick; 
emblematic of the perfect light not derived from this world, 
which is enjoyed in the house of God. 

If, then, in the emblematic house of God, to which cor- 
responds the Christian house of God, there was not only a 
table overlaid with gold, always spread, and on it displayed 
tvtelve large loaves, or cakes, sacred memorials and emblems 
of God's bounty and grace; shall we say that in that house, 
over which Jesus is a Son, there is not to stand always a 
table more precious than gold, covered with a richer repast 
for the holy and royal priesthood which the Lord has insti- 
tuted, who may always enter into the holy place consecra- 
ted by himself, 

But we are not dependent on analogies, nor far fetched 
inferences, for the proof of this position. Paul, who perfectly 
understood both the Jewish and Christian Institutions, tells 
us, that there is in the Christian temple a table, appropriate- 
ly called the Lord's Table, as a part of its furniture. He 
informs those who were in danger of being polluted by idol, 
atry, 'that they could not be partakers of the Lord's table, 
and of the table of demons.'* In all his allusions to this 
table in this connexion, he represents it as continually ap- 
proached by those in the Lord's house. 'The cup of the 
Lord' and 'the loaf,' for which thanks were continually offer- 
ed, are the furniture of this table, to which the Christian 
brotherhood have free access. 

The Apostle Paul reminds the saints in Corinth of their 
familiarity with the Lord's table, in speaking of it as being 
common as the meetings of the brotherhood. 'The cup of 
blessing for which we bless God, is it not the joint partici- 
pation of the blood of Christ? The loaf which we break, is it 
not the joint participation of the body of Christ?' In this 
style we speak of things common and usual, never thus of 
things uncommon or unusual, it is not the cup which we 
have received with thanks; nor is it the loaf which we have 
broken; but which we do break. But ail that we aim at 
here is now accomplished; for it has been shown that, in 
the hordes house there is always the table of the Lord. It is 
scarcely necessary to add, that if it be shown, that in the 
Lord's house there is the Lord's table, as a part of the furni- 

* 1 Cor. z 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. oi7 

tyre, it must always be there, unless it can be shown that 
only some occasions require its presence, and others its 
absence; or that the Lord is poorer or more churlish at one 
time than at another; that he is not able always to keep a 
table, or too parsimonious to furnish it for his friends. But 
this is in anticipation of our subject, and we proceed to the 
third proposition. 

Prop. III. — On the Lord's table there is of necessity bvt one 

loaf. 

The necessity is not that of a positive law enjoining one 
loaf and only one, as the ritual of Moses enjoined twelve 
loaves. But it is a necessity arising from the meaning of 
the Institution as explained by the Apostles. As there is 
but one literal body, and but one mystical or figurative body 
having many members; so there must be but one loaf. The 
Apostle insists upon this, 'Because there is one loaf, we, the 
many, are one body; for we are all partakers of that one 
loaf.'* The Greek word arios, especially when joined with 
words of number, says Dr. Macknight, always signifies a 
loaf, and is so translated in our Bibles, 4 Do you not remem- 
berthed/fee loaves f] There are many instances of the same 
sort. Dc. Campbell says, "that in the plural number it 
ought always to be rendered loaves;" but when there is a 
numeral before it, it indispensably must be rendered loaf or 
loaves. Thus we say one loaf, seven loaves; not one bread, 
seven breads. 'Because there is one loaf,' says Paul, we 
must consider the whole congregation as one body. Here 
the Apostle reasons from what is more plain, to what is less 
plain; from what was established , to what was not so fully 
established in the minds of the Corinthians. There was no 
dispute about the one loaf; therefore, there ought to be none 
about the one body. This mode of reasoning makes it as 
certain as a positive law: because that which an Apostle 
reasons from must be an established fact, or an established 
principle, To have argued from an assumption or a contin- 
gency to establish the unity of the body of Christ, would 
have been ridiculous in a logician, and how unworthy of an 
Apostle! It was, then, an established institution, that there 
s but one loaf, inasmuch as the Apostle establishes his 
argument by a reference to it as an established fact. Our 



* 1 Cor. x. 17. t Mat. xvi. 9. 

27* 



31S THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

third proposition is, then, sustained, that on the Lord*s table 
there is of necessity but one loaf. 

Prop. IV. — All Christians are members of the house or family 
of God, are called and constituted a holy and a royal 
priesthood, and may, therefore, bless God for the Lord's 
table, its loaf, and cup — approach it without fear and 
partake of it with joy, as often as they please, in remem- 
brance of the death of their Lord and Saviour. 

The different clauses of this proposition, we shall sustain 
in order — 'all Christians are members of the family or house 
of God.'* 'But Christ is trusted as a Son over his ourn 
family; whose family we are, provided we maintain our 
profession and boasted hope unshaken to the end;' — 'are 
called and constituted a holy and a royal priesthood^ You, 
also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual temple , a holy 
priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices most acceptable to 
God through Jesus Christ.' In the 9th verse of the same 
chapter he says, 'But you are an elect race, a chosen gen- 
eration, a royal priesthood;' and this is addressed to all the 
brethren dispersed in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, 
and Bithynia. 

May not, then, holy and royal priests thank God for the 
Lord's table, its loaf, and cup of wine? May they not, 
without a human priest to consecrate the way for them, ap- 
proach the Lord's table and handle the loaf and cup? if 
the common priests did not fear to approach a golden table 5 
and to place upon it the loaves of the presence; if they 
feared not to take and eat that consecrated bread, because 
priests according to the flesh — shall royal priests fear, with- 
out the intervention of human hands, to approach the Lord's 
table and to partake of the one ioaf? If they should, they 
know not how to appreciate the consecration of Jesus, nor 
how to value their high calling and exalted designation as 
kings and priests to God. And may we not say, that he who 
invested with a little clerical authority, derived only from 
'the Man of Sin and Son of Perdition,' if borrowed from the 
Romanists, says to them, 'stand by, I am holier than thou' — 
may we not say that such a one is worse than Diotrephes, 
who affected a pre-eminence, because he desecrates the royal 
priesthood of Jesus Christ, and calls him common and un- 



* Heb. iii 6. f 1 Pet. ii. 5. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM, 



319 



clean, who has been consecrated by the blood of the Son of 
God? Such impiety can only be found amongst them who 
worship the beast, and who have covenanted and agreed that 
none shall buy or sell, save those who receive a mark on 
their foreheads, and letters patent in their hands. But allow 
common sense to whisper a word into the ears of priests' 
"laymen," but Christ's 'royal priests? Do you not thank 
God for the cup while the priest stands by the table; and do 
you not handle the loaf and the cup when they come to you? 
And would not your thanksgiving have been as acceptable, 
if the human meditator had not been there, and your parti- 
cipating as well pleasing to God, and as consolatory to 
yourself, if you had been the first that handled the loaf or 
the cup, as when you are the second, or the fifty-second, in 
order of location? Let reason answer these two questions, 
and see what comes of the haughty assumptions of your 
Protestant clergy!! But this only by the way. 

I trust it is apparent that the royal priesthood may ap* 
proach the Lord's table without fear, inasmuch as they are 
consecrated to officiate by a biood, as far superior to that 
which consecrated the fleshly priesthood, as the Lord's table, 
covered with the sacred emblems of the sacrifice of the Lord 
himself, is superior to the table which held only the twelve 
loaves of the presence; and as they are, to say the least, 
called by as holy and divine an election, and are as chosen a 
race of priests as were those sprung from the loins of Levi, 

Prop. V. — The one loaf must be broken before the saints 
feast upon it^ which has obtained for this institution the 
name of "breaking of the loaf" 

But some, doubtless, will ask, 'Is it not called Hie hordes 
supper?'' Some have thought, amongst whom is Dr. Bell, 
that 1 Cor. xi. 20. applies to the feasts of love or charity, 
rather than the showing forth of the Lord's death. These 
may read the passage thus: — 'But your coming together into 
one place is not to eat a Lord's supper; for in eating it every 
one takes first his own supper j alluding, as they suppose, to 
a love feast eaten before the breaking of the loaf? But this 
Lord's supper is contradistinguished from their own supper. 
And might it not as reasonably be said, you cannot call yotir 
showing forth the Lord's death a Lord's supper; for before 
eating it you have eat a supper of your own, which prevents 
you from making a supper of it? You do not make it a 



820 THE CHB1SNIAN SYSTEM. 

Lord's supper, if you first eat your own supper. Nor, indeed, 
could the Corinthians call any eating a "Lord's supper,' 1 
conducted as was the eating of their own suppers; for one 
eat and drank to excess, while another who was poor, or had 
no supper to bring, was hungry, and put to shame. Could 
this be called a 6upper in honor of the Lord! 

But as the Lord had eaten a religious supper, had partaken 
of the paschal lamb with his disciples, before he instituted 
the breaking of the loaf,and drinking of the cup, as commern- 
.irative of his death, it seems improper to call it a supper; 
far it was instituted and eaten after a supper. Not in the 
sense of one of the meals of the day, can it be called either 
dinner or supper: for itsupp iesthep ace of no meal. Beipnos, 
here rendered supper i in the days of Homer, represented 
breakfast.* Jt also signified food in general or a feast. Jn 
the times of Demosthenes it signified a feast or an evening 
meal. But it is of more importance to observe, that it is in 
the New Testament used figuratively as well as literally. 
Hence, we have the gospel biessings compared to a supper. 
We read of 'the marriage supper of the Lamb,' and 'the 
supper of the Great God.' Jesus says, 'If any man open to 
me I will {deipneso) take supper with him and he with me.' 
When thus used it neither regards the time of day, nor the 
quantity eaten. If applied, then, to this institution it is 
figuratively, as it is elsewhere called "the feast?' 1 For not 
only did the Lord appoint it, but in eating it we have com^ 
munion with the Lord. The same idiom with the addition 
of the article occurs Revelation i. 10. ^he kuriake hemera? the 
Lord's da}'. Upon the whole it appers more probable that 
the Apostle uses the words kuriakos deipnos y or Lord's supper, 
as applicable to the breakingof the loaf for which they gave 
thanks in honor of the Lord, than to their own supper or the 
feasts of love, usual among the brethren. If we say in ac- 
cordance with the Apostle's style, the Lord's day, the Lord's 
table, the Lord's cup, we may also say the Lord's supper. 
For in the Lord's house these are all sacred to him. 

As the calling of Bible things by Bible names is an im- 
portant item in the present reformation, we mav here take 
occasion to remark, that both "the Sacrament" and 'the 
Eucharist" are of human origin. The former was a name 
adopted by the Latin church; because the observance was 
supposed to be an oath or vow to the Lord ; and as the term 



* IIHad 2, line 2B—39n. and 8 line 53-CG. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 321 

sacramentnm signified an oath taken by a Roman soldier, to 
be true to his general and his country, they presumed to call 
this institution a sacrament or oath to the Lord. By the 
Greek church it is called the Eucharist, which word imports 
the giving of thanks, because before participating, thanks 
were presented for the loaf and the cup. It is also called 
the communion, or "the communion of the saints ;" but this 
might indicate that it is exclusively the communion of saints ; 
and , therefore, it is more consistent to denominate it literally 
Hhe breaking of the loaf.' But this is only preliminary to 
the illustration and proof of our fifth proposition. 

We have said the loaf must be broken before the saints 
partake of it. Jesus took a loaf from the paschal table and 
broke it before he gave it to his deciples. They received a 
broken loaf, emblematic of his body once whole, but by his 
own consent, broken for his disciples. In eating it we then 
remember that the Lord's body was by his own consent 
broken or wounded for us. Therefore, he that gives thanks 
for the loaf should break it, not as the representative of the 
Lord, but after his example; and after the disciples have 
partaken of this loaf, handing it to one another, or while 
they are partaking of it, the disciple who brake it partakes 
with them of the broken loaf — thus they all have communion 
with the Lord and with one another in eating the broken 
loaf. And thus they as priests feast upon his sacrifice. For 
the priests eat of the sacrifices and were thus partakers of 
the altar. The proof of all this is found in the institution 
given in Matthew xxvi. Mark xiv. Luke xxii. and 1 Cor. xi. 
In each of which his breaking of the loaf, after giving thanks, 
and before his disciples partook of it, is distinctly stated. 

It is not, therefore, strange, that the literal designation of 
this institution should be, what Luke has given it in his Acts 
of Apostles thirty years after its institution. The first time 
he notices it is Acts ii. 42. when he calls it emphatically te 
klasei ton artou, the breaking of the loaf, a name at the time 
of his writing, A. D. 64, universally understood. For, says 
he, in recording the piety and devotion of the first converts, 
'they continued steadfast in the teaching of the Apostles, in 
the fellowship, in the breaking of the loaf in the prayers — 
praising God.' It is true, there is more than breaking a loaf 
in this institution. But in accordance with general, if not 
universal usage, either that which is first or most prominent 
m laws, institutions, and usages, gives a name to them. Thus 
we have our Habeas Corpus, our Fieri Facias, our Nisi 



322 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

Prius, our Capias, our Venditioni Exponas, names given 
from the first words of the law. 

But to break a loaf, or to break bread, was a phrase com- 
mon amongst the Jews to denote ordinary eating for refresh- 
ment. For example. Acts ii. 46. 'Daily, with one accord, 
they continued in the temple and in breaking bread from 
house to house. They eat their food with gladness and 
simplicity of heart.' Also, after Paul had restored Eutychus 
at Troas, we are informed he brake a loaf and eat. Here it 
must refer to himself, not only because it is used indefinitely, 
but because he that eats is in the same number with him 
that breaks a loaf. But when an established usage is refer- 
red to, the article or some definite term ascertains what is 
alluded to. Thus, Acts ii. 42. it is l the breaking of the loaf.' 
And Acts xx. 7. it is 'They assembled for the breaking of 
the loaf.' This loaf is explained by Paul, 1 Cor. x. 16. 
* The loaf which we break, is it not the communion of the 
body of Christ.' This proposition being now, as we judge, 
sufficiently evident, we shall proceed to state our sixth. 

Prop. VL—The breaking of the loaf and the drinking of the 
cap are commemorative of the hordes death. 

Upon the loaf and upon the cup of the Lord, in letters 
which speak not to the eye, but to the heart of every disciple, 
is inscribed, "When this you see, remember meP Indeed, 
the Lord says to each disciple, when he receives the symbols 
into his hand, 'This is my body broken for you, This is my 
blood shed for you? The loaf is thus constituted a repre- 
sentation of his body — first whole, then wounded for our sins. 
The cup is thus instituted a representation of his blood- 
once his life, but now poured out to cleanse us from our sins. 
To every disciple he says, For you my body was wounded; 
for you my life was taken, In receiving it the disciple says, 
"Lord, I believe it. My life sprung from thy suffering; my 
joy from thy sorrows; and my hope of glory everlasting from 
thy humiliation and abasement even to death.^ Each dis- 
ciple, in handing the symbols to his fellow-disciple, says, in 
effect, "You my brother, once an alien, are now a citizen 
of heaven; once a stranger, are now brought home to the 
family of God. You have owned my Lord as your Lord, 
my people as your people. Under Jesus the Messiah we 
are one. Mutually embraced in the everlasting arms, i em- 
brace you in mine: thy sorrows shall be my sorrows, and 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 323 

4hy joys my joys. Joint debtors to the favor of God and the 
love of Jesus, we shall joinily suffer with him, that we may 
jointly reign with him. Let us, then, renew our strength, re- 
member our King, and hold fast our boasted hope unshaken 
to the end." 

♦'Blest be the tie that binds 

Our hearts in Christian love ; 
The fellowship of kindred minds 

Is like to that above." 

Here he knows no man after the fiesh. Ties that spring 
from eternal love, revealed in blood, and addressed to his 
senses, draw forth all that is within him of complacent affec- 
tion and feeling, to those joint heirs with him of the grace 
of eternal life. While it represents to him 'the bread of life 9 
—ail the salvation of the Lord — it is the strength of his 
faith, the joy of his hope, and the life of his love.* 

This institution commemorates the love which reconciled 
us to God, and always furnishes us with a new argument to 
live to him who died for us. Him who feeis not the elo- 
quence and power of this argument, all other arguments as- 
sail in vain. God's goodness, developed in creation and in 
his providence, is well designed to lead men to reformation. 
But the heart, on which these fail, and to which Calvary ap- 
peals in vain, is past feeling, obdurate, and irreclaimable, 
beyond the operation of any moral power known to mortal 
man. 

Every time the disciples assemble around the Lord's table 9 
they are furnished with a new argument also against sin, as 
well as with a new proof of the love of God. It is as well 
intended to crucify the world in our hearts, as to quicken us 
to God, and to diffuse his love within us. Hence it must in 
reason be a stated part of the Christian worship, in all Chris- 
tian assemblies; which leads us to state, illustrate, and sus- 
tain the following capital proposition, to which the prece- 
ding six are all preliminary. 

Prop. VII.—- The breaking of the one loaf and the joint par- 
ticipation of the cup of the Lord, in commemoration of the 
Lord?s death, usually called "the Lord's Supper," is an in- 
stituted part of the worship and edification of all Christian 
congregations in all their stated meetings. 

Argument '1. The first Christian congregation which met 

* Christian Baptist, vol. 3, No. 1. In that volume, in the Fall of 1825, wers 
written four essays on the breaking of bread, which see. 



324 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

in Jerusalem, and which was constituted by the twelve 
Apostles, did as statedly attend upon the breaking of the 
loaf in their public meetings, as they did upon any other 
part of the Christian worship. So Luke records, Acts ii. 42. 
'They continued steadfast in the Apostles' doctrine, in the 
fellowship, in the breaking of the loaf, and in the prayers.' 
Ought we not, then, to continue as steadfast in the breaking 
of the loaf, as in the teaching of the Apostles, as in the fel- 
lowship, as in the prayers commanded by the Apostles? 

Argument2. The Apostles taught the churches to do all 
the Lord commanded. Whatever, then, the churches did 
hy the appointment or concurrence of the Apostles, they did 
by the commandment of Jesus Christ. Whatever acts of 
religious worship the Apostles taught and sanctioned in one 
Christian congregation, they taught and sanctioned in all 
Christian congregations, because all under the same govern- 
ment of one and the same King. But the church in Troas 
met upon the first day of the week, consequently all the 
churches met upon the first day of the week for religious 
purposes 

Among the acts of worship, or the institutions of the Lord, 
to which the disciples attended in these meetings, the break- 
ing of the loaf was so conspicuous and so important, that the 
churches are said to meet on the first day of the week for 
this purpose. We are expressly told that the disciples at 
Troas met for this purpose; and what one church did by the 
authority of the Lord, as a part of his instituted worship? 
they all did. That the disciples in Troas met for this pur, 
pose is not to be inferred, for Luke says positively, (Acts xs. 
7.) 'And on the first day of the week, when the disciples came 
together for the breaking of the loaf, Paul, being about to 
depart on the morrow, discoursed with them, and lengthened 
out his discourse till midnight.' From the manner in which 
this meeting of the disciples at Troas is mentioned by the 
historian, two things are very obvious — 1st. That it was an 
established custom or rule for the disciples to meet on the 
first day of the week. 2d. That the primary object of their 
meeting was to break the loaf. They who object to breaking 
the loaf on the first day of every week when the disciples 
are assembled, usually preface their objections by telling us? 
that Luke does not say they broke the loaf every first day ; 
and yet they contend against the Sabbatarians, that they 
ought to observe every first day to the Lord in commemoration 
of his resurrection. The Sabbatarians raise the same objec- 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 325 

tion to this passage, when adduced by all professors of 
Christianity to authorize the weekly observance of the first 
day. They say that Luke does not tell us, that they met 
for any religious purpose on every first day. How inconsist- 
ent, then, are they who make this sentence an express pre- 
cedent for observing every first day, when arguing against 
the Sabbatarians, and then turn round and tell us, that it will 
not prove that they broke the loaf eviry first day! If it does 
not prove the one, it is most obvious it will not prove the 
other; for the weekly observance of this day, as a day of the 
meeting of the disciples, and the weekly breaking of the loaf 
in those meetings, stand or fall together. Hear it again : 'And 
on the first day of the week, when the disciples assembled to 
break the loaf.' Now all must confess, who regard the mean- 
ing of words, that the meeting of the disciples and the break- 
ing of the loaf, as far as these words are concerned, are ex- 
pressed in the same terms as respects the frequency. If 
the one was jifty-two times in a year, or only once; so was 
the other. If they met every first day, the} 7 broke the loaf 
every first day; and if they did not break the loaf every first 
day. they did not meet every first day. But we argue from 
the style of Luke, or from his manner of narrating the fact, 
that they did both. If he had said that on a first day the dis- 
ciples assembled to break the loaf, then i would admit that 
both the Sabbatarians, and the semiannual or septennial 
communicants might find some way of explaining this evi- 
dence away. 

The definite article is, in the Greek and in the English 
tongue, prefixed to stated fixed times, and its appearance 
here is not merely definitive of one day, but expressive of a 
stated or fixed day. This is so in all languages which have 
a definite article. Let us illustrate this by a very parallel 
and plain case. Suppose some 500 or 1000 years hence the 
annual observance of the 4th of July should have ceased for 
several centuries, and that some person or persons devoted to 
the primitive institutions of this mighty Republic, were de- 
sirous of seeing the 4th of every July observed as did the 
fathers and founders of the Republic during the hale and 
undegenerate days of primitive republican simplicity. Sup- 
pose that none of the records of the first century of this Re- 
public had expressly stated, that it was a regular and fixed 
custom for a certain class of citizens to pay a particular 
regard to the 4th day of every July ; but that a few incidental 
expressions in the biography of the leading men in the Re~ 

28 



326 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

public spake of it as Luke has done of the meeting at Troas, 
How would it be managed? For instance, in the life of John 
Quincy Adams it is written, A. D. 1823, "And on the 4th 
of July, when the republicans of the City of Washington met 
to dine, John Q.Adams delivered an oration to them." Would 
not an American, a thousand years hence, in circumstances 
such as have been stated, rind in these words one evidence 
that it was an established usage, during the first century of 
this Republic, to regard the 4th of July as aforesaid. He 
would tell his opponents to mark, that it was not said that on 
a fourth of July, as if it were a particular occurrence; but it 
was in the fixed meaning of the English language expressive 
of a fixed and stated day of peculiar observance. At all 
events, he could not fail in convincing the most stupid, that 
the primary intention of that meeting was to dine. What- 
ever might be the frequency or the intention of that dinner^ 
it must be confessed, from the words above cited, that they 
met to dine. 

Another circumstance that must somewhat confound the 
Sabbatarians, and the lawless observers of the breaking of 
the loaf, may be easily gathered from Luke's narrative. Paul 
and his company arrived at Troas either on the evening of 
the first day, or on Monday morning at an early hour; for he 
departed on Monday morning, as we term it, at an early hour; 
and we are positively told that he tarried just seven days at 
Troas. Now had the disciples been Sabbatarians, or observed 
the seventh day as a Sabbath, and broke the loaf on it as the 
Sabbatarians do, they would not have deferred their meeting 
till the first day, and kept Paul and his company waiting, as 
he was evidently in a great haste at this time. But his 
tarrying seven days, and his early departure on Monday 
morning, corroborates the evidence adduced in proof, that 
the first day of the week was ihe fixed and stated day, for the 
disciples to meet for this purpose.* 

From the 2d of the Acts, then, we learn that the breaking 
of the loaf, was a stated part of the worship of the disciples 
in their meetings; and from the 20th we learn, that the first 
day of the week was the stated time for those meetings; and 
above all, we ought to notice that the most prominent object 
of their meeting was to break the loaf. Other corroborating 
evidences of the stated meeting of the disciples on the first 
day for religious purposes, are found n the fact, that Paul 

* 0. B pp 211 is 



PHE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 327 

says he had given orders to all the congregations in Galatia, 
as well as that in Corinth, to attend to the fellowship, or the 
laying up of contributions for the poor saints on the first 
day of every week. 'On the first day of every week let 
each of you lay somewhat by itself, according as he may 
have prospered, putting it into the treasury, that when I 
come there may be no collections'* for the saints. Kata rnian 
Sabbaton Macknight justly renders, Hhe first day of every 
week? for every linguist will admit that hat a polin means 
every city; kata menan, every month ; kata ecclesian, every 
church; and, therefore, in the same usage, kata mian Sab- 
baton means the first day of every week. 

Now this prepares the way for asserting not only, that the 
disciples in Troas assembled on the first day of every week 
for Hhe breaking of the loaf,' but also for adducing a third 
argument: — 

Arguments. The congregation in Corinth met every first 
day, or the first day of every week, for showing forth the 
Lord's death. Let the reader bear in mind that he has jus 
heard that Paul commanded the church in Corinth, or ever 
saint in Corinth, to contribute according to his ability, b 
putting into the treasury every first day his contributions tc 
avoid collections when Paul came. This is agreed on all 
hands to prove the weekly meeting of these saints. Now, 
with this concession in mind, we have only to notice what 
is said, chap. xi. 20. 'When you come together in one place, 
that is, every week at least, this is not to eat the LoroVs supper. 
To act thus is unworthy of the object of your meeting. To 
act thus is not to eat the Lord's supper. It is not to show 
forth the Lord's death. Thereby declaring that this is the 
chief object of meeting, When a teacher reproves his pupils 
for wasting time, he cannot remind them more forcibly of the 
object of their coming to school, nor reprove them with more 
point, than to say, 'When you act thus, this is not to assemble 
to learn.' This is the exact import of the Apostle's address, 
'When you assemble thus, it is not to eat the Lord's supper.' 
We have seen, then, that the saints met every first day in 
Corinth; and when they assembled in one place it was to eat 
the Lord's supper, a declaration of the practice of the prim- 
itive congregations as explicitas could incidentally be given, 
differing only from a direct command in the form in which 
it is expressed. But it is agreed on all hands, that whatso- 



* 1 Cor. xri. 2. 



328 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

ever the congregations did with the approbation of the 
Apostles, they did by their authority. For the Apostles gave 
them all the Christian institutions. Now as the Apostle Paul 
approbated their meeting every week, and their coming 
together into one place to show forth the Lord's death; — and 
only censupd their departure from the meaning of the insti- 
tution, it isjps high authority as we could require for the 
practice of the weekly meeting of the disciples. 

But when Acts li. 42. Acts xx. and 7. 1 Cor. xi. 2 and 
chap. xvi. 1 & 2, are compared and added together, it appears 
that we act under the influence of apostolic teaching and 
precedent, when we meet every Lord's day for the breaking 
of the loaf. But this is still farther demonstrated by a fourth 
argument drawn from the following fact: — 

Argument 4. No example can be adduced from the New 
Testament of any Christian congregation assembling on the 
first day of the week, unless for the breaking of the loaf Let 
an example be adduced by those who teach that Christians 
ought to meet on the first day of the week not to break the 
loaf, and then, but not till then, can they impugn the above 
fact. Till this is done, a denial of it must appear futile in 
the extreme. The argument, then, is, Christians have no 
authority, nor are under any obligations to meet on the Lord's 
day, from any thing which the Apostles said or practised, 
unless it be to show forth the Lord's death, and to attend to 
those means of edification and comfort connected with it. 

Argument 5. If it be not the duty and privilege of every 
Christian congregation to assemble on the first day of every 
week to show forth the Lord's death, it will be difficult, if 
not impossible, from either scripture or reason, to show that 
it is their duty or privilege to meet monthly, quarterly, semi- 
annually, annually, or, indeed, at all for this purpose. For 
from what premises can any person show that it is a duty 
or privilege to assemble monthly, which will not prove 
that it is obligatory to meet weekly? We challenge inves- 
tigation here, and affirm that no man can produce a single 
reason, why it should or could be a duty or a privilege for 
a congregation to meet monthly, quarterly, or annually, 
which will not prove that it is its duty and privilege to as- 
semble every first day for this purpose. 

Argument 6. Spiritual health, as well as corporal health, 
is dependent on food, It is requisite for corporal health, 
that the food not only be salutary in its nature, and suffi- 
cient in its quantity, but that it be received at proper inter- 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 329 

vals, and these regular and fixed. Is it otherwise with 
moral health? Is there no analogy between the bread 
which perishes, and the bread of life? Is there no analogy 
between natural and moral life— between natural and moral 
health? and if there be, does it not follow, that if the prim- 
itive disciples only enjoyed good moral health, when they 
assembled weekly to show forth the Lord's death, that they 
cannot enjoy good moral health, who only meet quarterly or 
semi-annually for this purpose? 

Argument 7. But in the last place, what commemorative 
institution, in any age, under any religious economy, was 
ordained by divine authority, which had not a fixed time for 
its observance? Was it the commemoration of the finish- 
ing of Creation signified in the weekly Sabbath? Was it 
the Passover, the Pentecost, the Feast of Tabernacles? Was 
it the Feast of Purim either? What other significant usage 
was it, the times or occasions of whose observance were 
not fixed How often was circumcision to be administered 
to the same subject? How often Christian immersion? Is 
there a single institution commemorative of any thing, the 
meaning, or frequency, of the observance of which, is not 
distinctly, either by precept or example, laid down in the 
Holy Scriptures? Not one of a social character, and 
scarcely one of an individual character. The commemo- 
ration of the Lord's death must, then, be a weekly institu- 
tion — an institution in all the meetings of the disciples for 
Christian worship; or it must be an anomaly — a thing sui 
generis — an institution like no other of divine origin. And 
can any one tell why Christians should celebrate the Lord's 
resurrection fifty-two times in a year, and his death only 
once, twice, or twelve times? He that can do this will not 
be lacking in a lively imagination, however defective he 
may be in judgment, or in an acquaintance with the New 
Testament 

Having written so much on this subject formerly, I shall 
now introduce a few persons out of the many men of re- 
nown, who, since the Reformation, have plead this cause. 
We shall not only introduce them to our readers, but we 
shall let them speak to them. — 

John Brown, of Haddington, author of the Dictionary of 
the Bible, and teacher of theology for that branch of the 
Presbyterian church called the "Secession," has written a 
treatise on this subject. We shall give him the task of sta- 
ting and removing the objections to this apostolic institution, 

28* 



330 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

The reader will perceive that there are many impurities in 
his style ; and although his speech bewrays that he has been 
in Ashdod , still his arguments are weighty and powerful. 

He offers various arguments for the weekly observance of 
this institution, and states and refutes nine objections to the 
practice. A few of the strongest we shall quote: — 

"All the arguments I ever knew advanced in support of 
the unfrequent administration of the Lord's supper, appear 
to me altogether destitute of force. The following are the 
principal: — 

^Objection 1. The frequent administration of this ordi- 
nance, in the apostolic and primitive ages of Christianity, 
was commendable and necessary, because the continual 
persecutions that then raged, gave them ground to fear that 
every Sabbath might be their last; whereas now we are 
not in such danger, and therefore need not so frequent use 
of this ordinance. 

"Answer. Ought we not still to live as if every Sabbath 
were to be our last? Have we now a lease of our life more 
than these had? Did not many Christians in these times 
live to as great an age as we now do? Indeed, is it not evi- 
dent, from the best historians, that the church was generally 
under no persecution above one-third of the time, that 
weekly communion was practised ? But, say they had been 
constantly exposed to the cruelest persecution, the objection 
becomes still more absurd. If they attended this ordinance 
weekly at the peril of their lives, does it follow that now, 
when God gives us greater and better opportunity for it, we 
ought to omit it? Does God require the greatest work at 
his people's hands, when he gives least opportunity? Or 
does he require least work, when he gives the greatest op- 
portunity for it? What kind of a master must God be, i^ 
this were the case? Besides, do not. men need this ordi- 
nance to preserve them from the influence of the world's 
smiles as much as of its frowns?— -"Let us invert this ob- 
jection, and try if it has not more force. It would then run 
thus: The primitive Christians received the Lord's supper 
weekly, as their souls were in greater danger from the 
smiles and allurements of the world, which are usually 
found more hurtful to men's spiritual concerns than its 
frowns; and as they had greater opportunity for doing so 
by their enjoying peace and liberty; yet this frequency of 
administering -and partaking is not requisite now, as we, 
beinj: under the world's frowns, are in less hazard as to our 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 331 

spiritual concerns; and especially, as we cannot attend 
upon it but at the peril of our lives, God having expressly 
declared that he loves mercy better than sacrifice. 

"Objection 2. The primitive and reforming times were 
seasons of great spiritual liveliness, and of large commu- 
nications of divine influences to the souls of believers: 
whereas it is quite otherwise now. Therefore, though fre- 
quent administration was then commendable; yet, in our 
languishing decayed state, it is unnecessary. 

"Answer. Ought we to repair seldom to the wells of sal- 
vation, because we can bring but little water at once from 
them? Ought we seldom to endeavor to fill our pitchers at 
the fountain of living waters, because they are small? Is 
not this ordinance a cordial for restoring the languishing, 
strengthening the weak, recovering the sick, and reviving 
the dying believer? How reasonable, then, is it to argue 
that languishing, weak, sick, and dying believers, must not 
have it often administered to them, just because they are 
not in perfect health?" — " Would not the objection inverted 
read better? The primitive Christians had this ordinance 
frequently administered to them, because being decayed 
and withered, weak and sickly, and receiving only scanty 
communications of divine influence at once, it was necessa- 
ry for them to be often taking new meals: whereas, we 
being now strong and lively Christians, and receiving on 
these occasions such large supplies of grace, as are suffi- 
cient to enable us to walk many days under their powerful 
influence, have no occasion for so frequently attending on 
that ordinance, which is especially calculated for strength- 
ening languishing, weak, sickly believers. 

"Objection 3. If the Lord's supper were frequently ad- 
ministered, it would become less solemn, and, in time, quite 
contemptible, as we see is the case with baptism, through 
the frequency of the administration of that ordinance. 

"Answer. Is this mean of keeping up the credit of the 
Lord's supper, of God's devising or not? If it is, where is 
that part of his word that warrants it? The contrary i have 
already proved from Scripture. Since, then, it is only of 
man's invention, what ground is there to hope it will really 
maintain the credit and solemnity of the ordinance? Did 
not the Papists of old, pretend to maintain and advance its 
solemnity, by reduction of the frequency of administration? 
Did they not take away the cup from the people, which Cal- 
vin says, was the native consequence of the former? Did 



332 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

they not annex the administration of this ordinance to those 
seasons which superstition had aggrandized ; namely, Easter, 
Pentecost, and Christmas? Did they not annex a world of 
ceremonies to it? Did they not pretend that it was a real 
sacrifice, and that the elements were changed by consecra- 
tion, into the real body and blood of Christ? And, did all this 
tend to the support of the proper credit of this ordinance? 
On the contrary, did it not destroy it? Though the doctrine 
of transubstantiation procured a kind of reverence for it, yet, 
was this reverence divine? or, was it not rather devilish, in 
worshipping the elements? Now, how are we sure that our 
unfrequent administration of this ordinance will more effec- 
tually support its solemnity? Is it not strange that we should 
have so mnch encouragement from the practice of the Apos- 
tles, the primitive Christians, and the whole of the reformed 
churches, to profane this solemn ordinance; while the most 
ignorant and abandoned Papists are our original pattern, for 
the course that tends to support its proper honor and credit? 
What a strange case this must be, if^ in order to support the 
credit of God's ordinance, we must forsake the footseps of 
the flock, and walk in the paths originally chalked out by 
the most ignorant and wicked antichristians? 

"Besides, i^ our unfrequent administration of this ordi- 
nance render it solemn, would it not become much more so, 
if administered only once in seven, ten, twenty, thirty, sixty, 
or a hundred years?"— "Shall we not then find, that those 
who pray once-a-month, or hear a sermon once-a-year, have 
their minds far more religiously impressed with solemn 
views of God, than those who pray seven times a day, and 
hear a hundred sermons within the year? 

"Let us invert this objection , and see how it stands. All 
human devices to render God's ordinances more solemn, are 
impeachments of his wisdom, and have always tended to 
bring the ordinances into contempt But unfrequent ad- 
ministration of the supper is a human device, first invented 
by the worst of Papists, and therefore it tends to bring con- 
tempt on this ordinance, as we see sadly verified in the 
practice of those who voluntarily communicate seldom." 

The means by which the weekly observance of the 
Supper was set aside, Mr. Brown states in the following 
words :— 

"The means by which the unfrequent administration of 
this ordinance appears to me to have been introduced into 
the church, do not savor of the God of trwth. The causes 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM 333 

that occasioned its introduction appear to have been pride, 
superstition, covetousness, and carnal complaisance. The 
eastern hermits, retiring from the society of men, had taken 
up their residence in deserts and mountains, and being far 
removed from the places of its administration, seldom at- 
tended. This, though really the effect of their sloth and 
distance, they pretended to arise from their regard and 
reverence for this most solemn ordinance. It being easy to 
imitate them in this imaginary holiness, which lay in ne- 
glecting the ordinance of God, many of the eastern Chris- 
tians left off to communicate, except at such times as super- 
stition had rendered solemn, as at pasch; and contented 
themselves with being spectators on other occasions. On 
account of this practice, we find the great and eloquent 
Chrysostom, once and again, bitterly exclaiming against 
them as guilty of the highest contempt of God and Christ; 
and calls their practice a most wicked custom. 1 " 

An objection not formally stated by Mr. Brown, which J 
have frequently heard, is drawn from the words, 'as often 
as you do this, do it in remembrance of me.' From these 
words, it is plead that we are without law in regard to the 
time how often ; and consequently cannot be condemned 
for a partial or total neglect: for l where there is no law, 
there is no transgression.' 'As often** is used not to licence 
the frequency, but to denote the manner. f Always do it in 
remembrance of me,' The connexion in which these 
words occur regarding the manner or design of the obser- 
vance, and not how often it may, or may not be celebrated, 
it is a violation of every rule of interpretation to infer ano- 
ther matter from them, which was not in the eye of the 
Apostle. Besides, if the words <as oft' leave it discretion- 
ary with any society how often, they are blameless if they 
never once, or more than once in all their lives, show forth 
the Saviour's death. This interpretation makes an obser- 
vance without reason, without law, without precedent, and 
consequently without obligation. 

Next to Mr. Brown, we shall introduce a few extracts 
from William King, Archbishop of Dublin. The Editors 
of the Christian Examiner presented a very valuable ex- 
tract from Mr. King, in their 7th of May number of the 
first volume, from which I quote the following, pp. 163, 165, 
166, 16"/:— 

"The following remarks on this institution of our Sa- 
viour, are copied from a 'Discourse concerning the Inven- 



334 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

tions of Men in the Worship of God? by William King, 
of Ireland. He was born at Antrim, 1650; educated at 
Trinity College, Dublin; and held successively the digni- 
ties of Dean of St. Patrick's, Bishop of Derry, and Arch- 
bishop of Dublin. He died in 1729. His method, in this 
'Discourse,' is to examine and compare the worship of God, 
as taught in the Scriptures, with the practice of the different 
religious sects of the day: — 

'Christ's positive command to do this in remembrance of 
him, &c., must oblige us in some times and in some places; 
and there can be no better way of determining when we 
are obliged to do it, than by observing when God in his 
goodness gives us opportunity; for either we are then 
obliged to do it, or else we may choose whether we will 
ever do it or no; there being no better means of determin- 
ing the frequency, than this of God's giving us the oppor- 
tunity. And the same rule holding in all other general 
positive commands, such as in those that oblige us to char- 
ity, we may be sure it holds likewise in this. Therefore, 
whoever slights or neglects any opportunity of receiving 
which God affords him, does sin as certainly as he, who, 
being enabled by God to perform an act of charity, and 
invited by a fit object, neglects to relieve him, or shuts up 
his bowels of compassion against him, concerning whom 
the Scriptures assure us, that the love of God dwells not 
in him. And the argument is rather stronger against him 
who neglects this holy ordinance; for how can it be sup- 
posed that man has a true love for his Saviour, or a due 
sense of his sufferings, who refuses or neglects to remember 
the greatest of all benefits, in the easiest manner, though 
commanded to do it by his Redeemer, and invited by a fair 
opportunity of God's own offering. 

'It is manifest that ii" it be not our own faults, we may 
have an opportunity every Lord's day when we meet to- 
gether; and therefore that church is guilty of laying aside 
the command, whose order and worship doth not require 
and provide for this practice. Christ's command seems to 
lead us directly to it: for, 'Do this in remembrance of me,' 
imples that Christ was to leave them, that they were to 
meet together after he was gone, and that he required them 
to remember him at their meetings whilst he was absent. The 
very design of our public meetings on the Lord's day, and 
not on the Jewish Sabbath, is, to remember and keep in 
our minds a sense of what Christ did and suffered for us 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 335 

till he come again; and this we are obliged to do, not in 
such a mariner as our own inventions suggest, but by such 
means as Christ himself has prescribed to us, that is, by 
celebrating this holy ordinance. 

l it seems then probable, from the very institution of this 
ordinance, that our Saviour designed it should be a part of 
God's service, in all the solemn assemblies of Christians, as 
the passoverwas in the assemblies of the Jews. To know 5 
therefore^ how often Christ requires us to celebrate this 
feast, we have no more to do, but to inquire how often 
Christ requires us to meet together; that is, at least, every 
Lord's day.' " 

We shall next introduce an American Rabbi of very 
great celebrity, Dr. John Mason, of New York. The pas- 
sages which I quote are found in a note attached to the 
188th page of the New York Edition of Fullers Strictures 
on Sandemanianism. 

"Mr. Fuller does not deny that the Lord's Supper was 
observed by the first Christians every Lor'ds day, (nor will 
this be denied by any man who has candidly investigated 
the subject,) but he seems to think that Acts xx. 7. does not 
prove that it was so; others, eminent for piety and depth of 
research, have considered this passage as affording a com- 
plete proof of the weekly observance of the Lord's supper. 
Dr. Scott, in his valuable Commentary, observes on this 
passage, 'Breaking of bread, or commemorating the death 
of Christ in the eucharist, was one chief end of their as- 
sembling; this ordinance seems to have been constantly 
administered every Lord^s day, and probably no professed 
Christians absented themselves from it, after they had been 
admitted into the church; unless they lay under some sen- 
sure, or had some real hindrance.' 

"Dr. Mason, of this city, in his Letters on Frequent Com- 
munion, speaks on this subject with still greater decision. 
6 It is notorious, that during the first three centuries of the 
Christian era, communions were held with the frequency of 
which, among us, we have neither example nor resemblance. 
It is also notorious, that the original frequency of commu- 
nions declined as carnality and corruption gained ground. 
And it is no less notorious, that it has been urged as a 
weighty duty by the best of men, and the best churches, in 
the best of times. 

"Weekly communions did not die with the Apostles and 
their contemporaries. There is a cloud of witnesses to tes- 



336 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

tify that they were kept up by succeeding Christians, with 
great care and tenderness, for above two centuries. Jt is 
not necessary to swell these pages with quotations. The 
fact is indisputable. 

"Communion every Lord's day, was universal, and was 
preserved in the Greek Church till the seventh century; 
and such as neglected three weeks together were excommu- 
nicated. 

"In this manner did the spirit of ancient piety cherish 
the memory of the Saviour's love. There was no need of 
reproof, remonstrance, or entreaty . No trifling excuses for 
neglect were ever heard from the lips of a Christian; for 
such a neglect had not yet degraded the Christian's name. 
He carried in his own bosom sufficient inducements to obey, 
without reluctance, the precepts of his Lord. It was his 
choice, his consolation, his joy. These were days of life 
and glory; but days of dishonor and death were shortly to 
succeed; nor was there a more ominous symptom of their 
approach, than the decline of frequent communicating. 
For as the power of religion appears in a solicitude to mag- 
nify the Lord Jesus continually, so the decay of it is first 
detected by the encroachments of indifference. It was in 
the fourth century, that the church began very discernibly 
to forsake her first love. 

"The excellent Calvin complains that in this day, pro- 
fessors, conceiting that they had fully discarged their duty 
by a single communion, resigned themselves for the rest of 
the year, to supineness and sloth. 'It ought to have been,' 
says he, 'far otherwise. Every week, at least, the table of 
the Lord should have been spread for Christian assemblies ; 
and the promises declared, by which, partaking of it, we 
might be spiritually fed.' "* 

We shall now hear the celebrated John Wesley. After 
fifty jive years reflection upon the subject, he decides that 
Christians should show forth the Lord's death every Lord's 
day. He prefaces the I06th Sermon, Luke xxii. 19, with 
this remark: — 

"This discourse was written above five and fifty years 
ago, for the use of my pupils at Oxford. I have added very 
little, but retrenched much; as I then used more words than 
I now do. But I thank God, I have not yet seen cause to 



* Mason's Letters on Frequent Communion, pp. 34, 35, 3G, 37, 38, and 42. 
Edinburgh Edition, 1799- 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 337 

alter my sentiments, in any point which is therein deliv- 
ered." 

The Sermon is titled "The Duty of Constant Commu- 
nion," concerning which the Reformer says — 

"It is no wonder that men who have no fear of God, 
should never think of doing this. But it is strange that it 
should be neglected by any that do fear God, and desire to 
save their souls; and yet nothing is more common. One 
reason why many neglect it is, they are so much afraid of 
eating and drinking unworthily, that they never think how 
much greater the danger is, when they do not eat or drink 
it at all." 

In speaking of constantly receiving the supper, Mr. Wes- 
ley says — 

"I say constantly receiving. For as to the phrase fre- 
qu&nt communion, it is absurd to the last degree. If it 
means any thing else but constant, it means more than can 
be proved to be the duty of any man. For if we are not 
obliged to communicate constantly, by what argument can 
it be proved that we are obliged to communicate fre- 
quently? yea, more than once a year? or once in seven 
years? or once before we die? Every argument brought 
for this, either proves that we ought to do it constantly, or 
proves nothing at all. Therefore that undeterminate un- 
meaning way of speaking, ought to be laid aside by all men 
of understanding. Our power is the only rule of our duty. 
Whatever we can do, that we ought. With respect either 
to this, or any other command, he that, when he may obey 
if he will, does not, will have no place in the kingdom of 
heaven." 

Though we may have some objections to the style in 
which John Wesley speaks of the meaning of this institu- 
tion, as we have indeed to that of all the others from, whom 
we have quoted, yet we would recommend to the whole Me- 
thodistic community the close perusal of the above Sermon. 
It will be found vol. 3. pp, 171—179. 

The Elders among the Methodists, with whom John Wes- 
ley is such high authority, we would remind of his advice, 
found in his Letter to America, 1784, lately quoted in the 
Gospel Herald, Lexington, Ky. "I also advise the el- 
ders TO ADMINISTER THE SUPPER OF THE LORD ON EVERY 

lord's day." 

So much for John Brown, John Mason, and John Wes- 
ley, and the authorities which they quoted. While quoting 

29 



338 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM, 

the sayings of the Johns, 1 am reminded of something said 
by the great John Milton, the "immortal bard" of England, 
In his posthumous works he says; "The Lord's supper 
(which the doctrine of transubstantiation, or rather anthro- 
pophagy, has well nigh converted into a banquet of canni- 
bals,) is essential to be observed, and may be administered 
by any one with propriety, as well as by an appointed min- 
ister. There is no order of men which can claim to itself 
either the right of distribution, or the power of withholding 
the sacred elements, seeing that in the church we are all 
alike priests." "The master of a family, or any one ap- 
pointed by him, is at liberty to celebrate the Lord^s supper 
from house to house, as was done in the dispensation of the 
passover" — "all Christians are a royal priesthood, therefore 
any believer is competent to act as an ordinary minister ac- 
cording as convenience may require, provided only he be 
endowed with the necessary gifts, these gifts constituting 
his commission." Thus did the famous Milton make 
way for the weekly observance of the supper, by divesting 
it of the priestly appendages and penances of the dark 
ages. 

A cloud of witnesses to the plainness and evidence of 
the New Testament on the subject oi the weekly celebra- 
tion of the Lord's Supper, might be adduced. But this we 
think unnecessary; and as we would avoid prolixity and te- 
diousness, we shall only add a few extracts from the third 
volume of the Christian Baptist, 2d edt. p. 254. in proof of 
the assertion — all antiquity is on ike side of the disciples 
meeting every first day for the, breaking of the loaf. — 

All antiquity concurs in evincing that, for the three first 
centuries, all the churches broke bread once a week. Pliny, 
in his Epistles, Book x. Justin Martyr, in his Second Apol- 
ogy for the Christians, and Tertullian, De Ora. page 135, 
testify that it was the universal practice in all the weekly 
assemblies of the brethren, after they had prayed and sang 
praises — 'Then bread and wine being brought to the chief 
brother, he taketh it and offereth praise and thanksgiving to 
the Father, in the name of the Son and Holy Spirit. After 
prayer and thanksgiving, the whole assembly saith, Amen! 
When thanksgiving is ended by the chief guide, and the 
consent of the whole people, the deacons (as we call them) 
give to every one present part of the bread and wine, over 
which thanks are given.' 
"The weekly communion was preserved in the Greek 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM 339 

church till the seventh century; and, by one of their canons, 
6 such as neglected three weeks together, were excommuni- 
cated/* 

"In the fourth century, when all things began to be 
changed by baptized Pagans, the practice began to decline. 
Some of the councils in the western part of the Roman 
Empire, by their canons, strove to keep it up. The council 
held at Jliiberis in Spain A. D. 324, decreed that 'no offer 
ings should be received from such as did not receive the 
Lord's Supper.'t 

"The council at Antioch, A. D. 341, decreed that 6 all 
who came to church, and heard the Scriptures read, but 
afterwards joined not in prayer, and receiving the sacra- 
ment, should be cast out of the church, till such time as 
they gave public proof of their repentance .'J 

"Ail these canons were unable to keep a carnal crowd of 
professors in a practice for which they had no spiritua* 
taste; and, indeed, it we s likely to get out of use altogether. 
To prevent this, the Council of Agatha, in Languedoc, A, 
D. 506, decreed that 'none should be esteemed good Chris- 
tians who did not communicate at least three times a year — 
at Christmas, Easter, and Whitsunday.'|| This soon became: 
the standard of a good Christian, and it was judged presump- 
tuous to commune oftener. 

"Things went on in this way for more than 600 years, 
until they got tired of even three communications in one 
year; and the infamous Council of Lateran, which decreed 
auricular confession and transubstantiation, decreed that 4 an 
annual communion at Easter was sufficient. 9 This associa- 
tion of the -sacrament' with Easter, and the mechanical 
devotion of the ignorant at this season, greatly contributed 
to the worship of the Host.§ Thus the breaking of bread in 
simplicity and godly sincerity once-a-week, degenerated 
into a pompous sacrament once-a-vear, at Easter. 

"At the Reformation this subject was but slightly investi- 
gated by the reformers. Some of them, however, paid some 
attention to it. Even Calvin, in his Institutes, lib. 4. chap, 
xvii. sect. 46, says, *And truly this custom, which enjoins 
communicating once-a-year, is a most evident contrivance of 
the Devil, by whose instrumentality soever it may have 
been determined. ' 

"And again, (Inst. lib. 6. chap, xviii. sect. 56,) he says, 

* Erskine's Dissertations, p 271. f Council Illib. Can, 23. t Coun- 

cil Antioch. Can. 2. |j Coun. Agatha, Can. 18. $ Bingham's Ori. B. xv. C 9, 



340 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

'It ought to have been far otherwise. Every week, at least, 
the table of ihe Lord should have been spread for Christian 
assemblies, and the promises declared, by which, in partak- 
ing of it, we might be spiritually fed.' 

"Martin Chemnitz, Witsius, Calderwood, and other* of 
the reformers and controversialists, concur with Calvin; 
and, indeed, almost every commentator on the New Testa- 
ment, concurs with the Presbyterian Henry in these remarks 
on Acts xx. 7. 'In the primitive times it was the custom of 
many churches to receive the Lord's Supper every Lord's 
day.' ^ 

"The Belgic reformed church, in 1581, appointed the 
supper to be received every other month. The reformed 
churches of France, after saying that they had been too 
remiss in observing the supper but four times a-year, advise 
a greater frequency. The church of Scotland began with 
four sacraments in a year; but some of her ministers got 
up to twelve times. Thus things stood till the close of the 
last century. 

"Since the commencement of the present century, many 
congregations in England, Scotland, Ireland, and some in 
the United States and Canada, both Independents and Bap- 
tists, have attended upon the supper every Lord's day, and 
the practice is every day gaining ground. 

"These historical notices may be of some use to those 
who are ever and anon crying out Innovation! Innovation! 
But we advocate the principle and the practice on apostolic 
grounds alone. Blessed is that servant, who, knowing his 
Master's will, doeth it with expedition and delight! 

"Those who would wish to see an able refutation of the 
Presbyterian mode of observing the sacrament, and a de- 
fence of weekly communion, would do well to read Dr. John 
Mason's Letters on Frequent Communion, who is himself a 
high toned Presbyterian, and consequently his remarks will 
be more regarded by his brethren than mine." 

Thus our seventh proposition is sustained by the explicit 
declarations of the New Testament, by the reasonableness 
of the thing itself when suggested by the Apostles, by anal- 
ogy, by the conclusions of the most eminent reformers, and 
by the concurrent voice of all Christian antiquity. But on 
the plain sayings of the Lord and his Apostles, we rely for 
authority and instruction upon this and every other Christian 
institution. 

It does, indeed, appear somewhat incongruous, that argu- 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 341 

ments should have to be submitted to urge Christians to 
convene weekly around the Lord's table. Much more in 
accordance with the genius of our religion would it be, to see 
them over-solicitous to be honored with a seat at the King's 
table, and asking with intense interest, might they be per- 
mitted so often to eat in his presence, and in honor of his 
love. To have to withstand their daily convocations for this 
purpose, would not be a task so unnatural and so unreason- 
able, as to have to reason and expostulate with them, to urge 
them to assemble for weekly communion. 

But as the want of appetite for our animal sustenance is a 
symptom of ill health, or approaching disease; so a want of 
relish for spiritual food is indicative of a want of spiritual 
health, or of the presence of a moral disease, which, if hot 
healed, must issue in apostacy from the Living Head. Hence 
among the most unequivical prognosis of a spiritual decline, 
the most decisive is a want of appetite for the nourishment, 
which the Good Physician prepared and prescribed for his 
family. A healthy and vigorous Christian, excluded from 
the use and enjoyment of all the provisions of the Lord's 
house cannot be found. 

But much depends upon the manner of celebrating the 
supper, as well as upon the frequency. The simplicity of 
the Christian institution runs through every part of it. 
While there is the form of doing every thing, there is all 
attention to the thing signified. But there is the form as 
well as the substance, and every thing that is done, must be 
done in some manner. The well bred Christian is like the 
well bred gentleman — his manners are graceful, easy, art- 
less, and simple. All stiffness and forced formality are as 
graceless in the Christian, as in the gentleman. A courteous 
and polite family differs exceedingly from a soldier's mess 
mates, or a ship's crew, in all the ceremonies of the table. 
There is a Christian decency and a Christian order, as well 
as political courtesy and complaisance. 

Nothing is more disgusting than mimickry. It is hypoc- 
risy in manners, which, like hypocrisy in religion, is more 
odious than apathy or vulgarity. There is a saintishness 
in demeanor and appearance, which differs as much from 
sanctity, as foppery from politeness. The appearance of 
sanctimoniousness is as much to be avoided as actual licen- 
tiousness of morals. An austere and rigid pharisaism sits 
as awkwardly upon a Christian, as a mourning habit upon 

29* 



342 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

a bride. Cheerfulness is not mirth — solemnity is not phar- 
isaism — joy is not noise — nor eating, festivity. 

But to act right in any thing, we must feel right. If we 
would show love, we must first possess it. If a person 
would walk humbly, he must be humble: and if one would 
act the Christian on any occasion, he must always live the 
Christian. Persons who daily converse with God, and who 
constantly meditate upon his salvation, will not need to 
be told how they should demean themselves at the Lord's 
table. 

The following extract from my Memorandum Book fur- 
nishes the nighest approach to the model, which we have in 
our eye, of good order and Christian decency in celebrating 
this institution. Indeed, the whole order of that congrega- 
tion was comely: — 

"The church in consisted of about fifty members. Not 

having any person whom they regarded as filling PauPs 
outlines of a Bishop, they had appointed two senior mem- 
bers, of a very grave deportment, to preside in their meetings. 
These persons were not competent to labor in the word and 
teaching; but they were qualified to rule well, and to 
preside with Christian dignity. One of them presided at 
each meeting. After they had assembled in the morning, 
which was at eleven o'clock, (for they had agreed to meet 
at eleven and to adjourn at two o'clock during the Winter 
season,) and after they had saluted one another in a very 
familiar and cordial manner, as brethren are wont to do who 
meet for social purposes; the president for the day arose 
and said: 'Brethren, being assembled in the name and by 
the authority of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, on this 
day of his resurrection, let us unite in celebrating his 
praise.' He then repeated the following stanza :— 

" Christ the Lord is risen to-day 1 
Sons of men and angels say ; 
Raise your joys and triumphs high, 
Sing, O heavens ! and earth reply !" 

"The congregation arose and sang this psalm in animating 
strains. He then called upon a brother, who was a very 
distinct and emphatic reader, to read a section of the evan- 
gelical history. He arose and read, in a very audible voice, 
the history of the crucifixion of the Messiah. After a pause 
of a few moments, the president called upon a brother to 
pray in the name of the congregation. His prayer abounded 
with thanksgivings to the Father of Mercies, and with 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 343 

supplications for such blessings on themselves and for all 
men as were promised to those who ask, or for which men 
were commanded to pray. The language was appropriate; 
no unmeaning repetitions, no labor of words, no effort to say 
any thing and every thing that came into his mind; but to 
express slowly, distinctly, and emphatically, the desires of 
the heart. The prayer was comparatively short; and the 
whole congregation, brethren and sisters, pronounced aloud 
the final Amen. 

"After prayer a passage in one of the Epistles was read 
by the president himself, and a song was called for. A 
brother arose, and after naming the page, repeated — 

44 'Twas on that night when doom'd to know 
The eager rage of every foe ; 
That night in which he was betray'd 
The Saviour of the world took bread." 

"He then sat down, and the congregation sang with much 
feeling. 

"I observed that the table was furnished before the dis- 
ciples met in the morning, and that the disciples occupied a 
few benches on each side of it, whilst the strangers sat off 
on seats more remote. The president arose and said that 
our Lord had a table for his friends, and that he invited his 
disciples to sup with him. 'In memory of his death, this 
monumental table,' said he, 'was instituted ; and as the Lord 
ever lives in heaven, so he ever lives in the hearts of his 
people. As the first disciples, taught by the Apostles in 
person, came together into one place to eat the Lord's sup- 
per, and as they selected the first day of the week in honor 
of his resurrection for this purpose; so we, having the same 
Lord, the same faith, the same hope with them, have vowed 
to do as they did. We owe as much to the Lord as they; 
and ought to love, hono&, and obey him as much as they. 
Thus having spoken, he took a small loaf from the table, 
and in one or two periods gave thanks for it. After thanks- 
giving, he raised it in his hand, and significantly brake it, 
and handed it to the disciples on each side of him, who 
passed the broken loaf from one to another, until they all 
partook of it. There was no stiffness, no formality, no pa- 
geantry; all was easy, familiar, solemn, cheerful. He then 
look the cup in a similar manner, and returned thanks for it, 
and handed it to the disciple sitting next him, who passed it 
round; each one waiting upon his brother, until all were 



344 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

served. The thanksgiving before the breaking of the loaf, 
and the distributing of the cup, were as brief and as perti- 
nent to the occasion, as the thanks usually presented at a 
common table for the ordinary blessings of God's bounty. 
They then arose, and with one consent, sang — 

*' To him that lov'd the sons of men, 

And washed us in his blood ; 
To royal honors rais'd our heads, 

And made us priests to God." 

"The president of the meeting called upon a brother to 
remember the poor, and those ignorant of the way of life, 
before the Lord. He kneeled down and the brethren all 
united with him in supplicating the Father of Mercies in 
behalf of all the sons and daughters of affliction, the poor and 
the destitute, and in behalf of the conversion of the world. 
After this prayer the fellowship, or contribution, was at- 
tended to; and the whole church proved the sincerity of their 
desires, by the cheerfulness and liberality which they seem- 
ed to evince, in putting into the treasury as the Lord had 
prospered them. 

"A general invitation was tendered to all the brotherhood 
if they had any thing to propose or inquire, tending to the 
edification of the body. Several brethren arose in succes- 
sion, and read several passages in the Old and New Testa- 
ments, relative to some matters which had been subjects of 
former investigation and inquiry. Sundry remarks were 
made j and after singing several spiritual songs selected by 
the brethren, the president, on motion of a brother who sig- 
nified that the hour of adjournment had arrived, concluded 
the meeting by pronouncing the apostolic benediction. 

"I understood that all these items were attended to in all 
their meetings; yet the order of attendance was not inva- 
riably the same. On all the occasions on which ] was pre- 
sent with them, no person arose to speak without invitation, 
or without asking permission of the president, and no person 
finally left the meeting before the hour of adjournment, with- 
out special leave. Nothing appeared to be done in a format 
or ceremonious manner. Every thing exhibited the power 
of godliness as well as the form; and no person could attend 
to all that passed without being edified and convinced that 
the Spirit of God was there. The joy, the affection, and the 
reverence which appeared in this little assembly, was the 
strongest argument in favor of their order, and the best 
comment on the excellency of the Christian institution " 



Concluding Addresses. 



ADDRESS TO THE CITIZENS OF THE KINGDOM, 



Fellow- Citizens, 
Your rank and standing under the reign of the Prince of 
Peace have never been surpassed — indeed, have never been 
equalled by any portion of the human race. You have 
visions and revelations of God — his being and perfections — 
developments of the depths of his wisdom and knowledge, 
of the counsels of his grace, and the purposes of his love, 
which give you an intellectual and moral superiority above 
all your predecessors in the Patriarchal and Jewish ages of 
the world. Secrets of God, which were hid from ages and 
generations, have been revealed to you by the Apostles of 
the Great Apostle and High Priest of your confession.— 
What Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Moses, David, Isaiah, 
Daniel, and all the Prophets, down to John the Harbinger, 
rejoiced to anticipate, you have realized and enjoyed. The 
intellectual pleasures of the highest and most sublime 
conceptions of God and of Christ vouchsafed to you, so far 
transcend the attainments of the ancient people of God, 
that you are comparatively exalted to heaven, and may 
enjoy the days of heaven upon earth. You have a book 
which contains not only the charter of your privileges, but 
which explains a thousand mysteries in the antecedent ad- 
ministrations of God over all the nations of the earth. In 
it. you have such interpretations of God's past providences in 
the affairs of individuals, families, and nations, as open to 
you a thousand sources of rational and sentimental enjoy- 
ment from incidents and things which puzzled and per- 
plexed the most intelligent and highly favored of past ages. 
Mountains, are, indeed, levelled: valleys are exalted; rough 
places are made plain, and crooked ways straight to your 
apprehension; and, from these data, you are able to form 
more just conceptions of the present, and more lofty antici- 
pations of the future, than fell to the lot of the most highly 
favored subjects of preceding dispensations. And, indeed, 



346 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM 

so inexhaustible are the deep and rich mines of knowledge 
and understanding in the Christian revelations, that the 
most comprehensive mind in the kingdom of heaven might 
labor in them during the age of a Methusaleh, constantly 
enriching itself with all knowledge and spiritual under- 
standing, and yet leave at last vast regions and tracts of 
thought wholly unexplored. 

But this decided superiority over the most gifted saints 
of former ages you unquestionably enjoy. Among all the 
living excellencies with which they were acquainted, they 
wanted a perfect model of all human excellence. Bright 
as were the virtues and excellencies of an Abraham, a 
Joseph, a David, there were dark spots, or, at least, some 
blemishes in their moral character. They railed to place 
in living form before their contemporaries, or to leave as a 
legacy to posterity, every virtue, grace, and excellence that 
adorn human nature. But you have Jesus, not only as 'the 
image of the invisible God,' 'an effulgence of his glory, and 
an exact representation of his character;' but as a man, 
holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sin, exhibiting in 
the fullest perfection every excellence which gives amia- 
bility, dignity, and glory to human character. You have 
motives to purity and holiness, a stimulus to all that is 
manly, good, and excellent, from what he said, and did, and 
suffered as the Son of Man, which would have added new 
charms and beauties to the most exemplary of all the saints 
of the olden times. 

Means and opportunities of the highest intellectual and 
moral enjoyments are richly bestowed on you, for which 
they sighed in vain: God having provided some better 
things for Christians than for Jews and Patriarchs. Shall 
we not, then, fellow citizens, appreciate and use, as we 
ought, to our present purity and happiness, to our eternal 
honor and glory, the light which the Sun of Righteousness 
has shed so richly and abundantly on us? Remember that 
we stand upon Apostles and Prophets, and are sustained by 
Jesus, the light of the world, and the interpreter and vindi- 
cator of all God's ways to man in creation, providence, and 
redemption. All suns are stars; and he that is now to us 
in this life 'the Sun of Righteousness ,' in respect of the 
future is 'the Bright and Morning StarS Till the day of 
eternity da%vn, and the day-star of immortality arise in our 
hearts, let us always look to Jesus. 

But it is not only the felicity of superior heavenly light, 



THE CHRISTIAN SV/STEM. 347 

though that is most delectable to our rational nature, which 
distinguishes you the citizens of this kingdom; but that 
personal, real, and plenary remission of all sin, which you 
enjoy through the blood of the Lamb of God, bestowed on 
you through the ordinances of Christian immersion and 
confession of sins. 

The Jews, indeed, had sacrifices under the law, which 
could, and did take away ceremonial sins; and which so 
far absolved from the guilt of transgressing that law, as to 
give them a right to the continued enjoyment of the tempo- 
ral and political promises of the national compact; but 
farther Jewish sacrifices and ablutions could not reach.— 
This benefit every Jew had from them. But as respected 
the conscience, Paul, that great commentator on Jewish 
sacrifice, assures us they had no power. 'With respect to 
the conscience,' says he, 'they could not make him who did 
the service perfect, 5 

The entrance of the law gave the knowledge of sin. It 
gave names to particular sins, and 'caused the offence to 
abound.' The sacrifices appended to it had respect to that 
institution alone, and not to sin in the general, nor to sin in 
its true and proper nature. The promise made to the patri- 
archs and the sacrificial institution added to it, through faith 
in that promise, led the believing to anticipate a real sin- 
offering; but it appears the Jewish sacrifices had only 
respect to the Jewish institution, and excepting their typical 
character, gave no new light to those under that economy on 
the subject of a true and proper remission of sins, through 
the real and bloody sacrifice of Christ. 

The Patriarch and the believing ^e\v^ as respected a real 
remission of sins, stood upon the same ground; for, as has 
been observed, the legal institution, or, as Paul says, 'the 
supervening of the law,' made no change in the apprehen- 
sions of remission, as respected the conscience. But a new 
age having come, (for 'these ordinances for cleansing the 
flesh were imposed only till the time of reformation,') and 
Christ having, by a more perfect sacrifice, opened the way 
into the true holy places, has laid the foundation for perfect- 
ing the conscience by a real and full remission of sins, 
which, by the virtue of his blood, terminates not upon the 
flesh, but upon the conscience of the sinner. 

John, indeed, who lived at the dawn of the Reformation, 
preached reformation with an immersion for the remission 
of sins; saying that 'they should believe in him that was 



348 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

to come after him.' Those who believed John's gospel, and 
reformed, and were immersed into John's reformation, had 
remission of sins through faith in him that was to come; 
but you, fellow-citizens, even in respect of the enjoyment 
of remission, are greatly advanced above the disciples of 
John. You have been immersed, not only by the authority 
of Jesus, as Lord of all, into the name of the Father, and of 
the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, but into the death or sacri- 
fice of Christ. This no disciple of Moses or of John knew 
any thing about. This gives you an insight into sin, and a 
freedom from it, as respects conscience — a peace and a joy 
unutterable and full of glory, to which both the disciples of 
Moses and of the Harbinger were strangers. So that the 
light of the risen day of heaven's eternal Sun greatly excels, 
not only the glimmerings of the stars in the patriarchal age, 
and the faint light of the moon in the Jewish age, but even 
the twilight of the morning. 

Your new relation to the Father, to the Son, and to the 
Holy Spirit, into which you have been introduced by faith 
in the Messiah and immersion into his death, verifies, in 
respect of the sense and assurance of remission, all that 
John and Jesus said concerning the superiority of privilege, 
vouchsafed to the citixens of the kingdom of heaven. You 
can see your sins washed away in the blood that was shed 
on Mount Calvary. That which neither the highly favored 
John, nor any disciple of the Messiah could understand, 
till Jesus said 'it is finished? you not only clearly perceive, 
but have cordially embraced. You can feel, and say with 
all assurance, that 'the blood of Jesus Christ now cleanses 
you from all sin;' and that by faith you have access to the 
Mediator of the New Institution, and to the blood of sprink- 
ling which speaks glai tidings to the heart. You have an 
Advocate with the Father; and, when conscious of any im- 
purity, coming to him by God, confessing your sins, and 
supplicating pardon through his blood, you have the promise 
of remission. You now know how God is just as well as 
merciful, in forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin. 

But superior iight and knowledge, and enlarged concep- 
tions of God, with such an assurance of real and personal 
remission as pacifies the conscience and introduces the 
peace of God into the heart, are not the only distinguishing 
favors which you enjoy in the new relation to the Father, 
the Son, and the Holy Spirit, into which you are introduced 
under the reign of Heaven; but you are formally adopted 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 349 

into the family of God, and constituted the sons and daugh- 
ters of the Father Almighty. 

To be called 'the friend of God? was the highest title 
bestowed on Abraham; to be called the friends of Christ, 
was the peculiar honor of the disciples of Christ, to whom 
he confided the secrets of his reign; but to be called 'the 
children of God through faith in Jesus Christ,' is not only 
the common honor of all Christians, but the highest honor 
which could be vouchsafed to the inhabitants of this earth. 
Such honor have you, my fellow-citizens, in being related to 
the only begotten Son of God : 'For to as many as received 
him he gave the privilege of becoming the sons of God.- 
These, indeed, were not descended from families of noble 
blood, nor genealogies of high renown; neither are they the 
offspring of the instincts of the flesh, nor made the sons of 
God 'by the will of man, 1 who sometimes adopts the child 
of another as his own; but they are 'born of God' through 
the ordinances of his grace. 'Behold how great love the 
Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called chil- 
dren of God!' 'The world, indeed, does not know us, be- 
cause it did not know him. Beloved, now are we the chil- 
dren of God. it does not yet appear what we shall be.' 

'Because you are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his 
Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.' And ii' sons, 
it follows you 'are heirs of God through Christ 1 — the heir 
of all things. Is this, fellow-citizens, a romantic vision, or 
sober and solemn truth, that you are children of God, pos- 
sessing the spirit of Christ, and constituted heirs of God, and 
joint heirs with Christ of the eternal inheritance! What 
manner of persons, then, ought you to be! How pure, how 
holy, and heavenly in your temper; how just and righteous 
in all your ways; how humble and devoted to the Lord; 
how joyful and triumphant in your King! 

Permit me, then, to ask, Wherein do you excel ! — nay, 
rather, you will propose this question to yourselves. You 
will say, How shall we still more successfully promote the 
interest, the honor, and the triumphs of the gospel of the 
kingdom? Is there any thing we can do by our behaviour, 
our morality, our piety, by our influence, by all the earthly 
means with which God has furnished us? Is there any 
thing we can do more to strengthen the army of the faith, 
to invigorate the champions of the kingdom, to make new 
conquests for our King? Can we not increase the joy of 
the Lord in converting souls — can we not furnish occasions 

30 



350 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

of rejoicing to the angels of God — can we not gladden the 
hearts of thousands who have never tasted the joys of the 
children of God? 

In the present administration of the kingdom of God, 
during the absence of the King, he has said to the citizens, 
'Put on the armor of light' — -'contend earnestly for the faith' 
— 'convert the world'— 'occupy till I come' — 'let your light 
shine before men, that they, seeing your good works, may 
glorify your Father in heaven' — 'that the Gentiles may, by 
your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in 
the day of visitation .' He has thus entrusted to the citizens 
the great work for which he died — the salvation of men. 
Let us then, brethren, be found faithful to the Lord and to 
men, that he may address us at his coming with the most 
acceptable plaudit, 'Well done, good and faithful servants; 
enter into the joy of 3/our Lord!' 

Great as the opposition is to truth and salvation, we have 
no reason to despond. Greater are our friends and allies, 
and infinitely more powerful than all our enemies. God is 
on our side — Jesus Christ is our King — the Holy Spirit is 
at his disposal — angels are his ministering servants — the 
prayers of all the prophets, apostles, saints, and martyrs 
are for our success— our brethren are numerous and strong 
—they have the Sword of the Spirit, the shield of faith, the 
helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the 
artillery of truth, the arguments of God, the preparation of 
the gospel of peace— our Commander and Captain is the 
most successful General that ever entered the field of war — - 
he never lost a battle — he is wonderful in counsel, excellent 
in working, valiant in fight — the Lord of hosts is his name. 
He can stuitHy the machinations of our enemies, control all 
the powers of nature, and subdue all our foes, terrestrial and 
infernal. Under his conduct we are like Mount Zion, that 
can never be moved. Indeed, under him w r e are come to 
Mount Zion, the strong hold and fortress of the kingdom, 
the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to 
myriads of angels, the general assembly and congregation 
of the first born, enrolled in heaven — to God the Judge of 
all — to the spirits of just men made perfect — to Jesus the 
Mediator of the New Constitution- — and to the blood of 
sprinkling, which speaks such peace, and joy, and courage 
to the heart. Ought we not, then, brethren, 'to be strong in 
the Lord and in the power of his might?' If in faith, and 
courage, and prayer, we put on the heavenly armor, and 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 351 

march under the King, sounding the gospel trumpet, the 
walls of Jericho will fall to the ground, and the banners of 
the Cross will wave over the ruins of Paganism, Atheism, 
Scepticism, and Sectarianism — Nil desperandum, te duce, 
Christe. If a Roman could say, 'Nothing is to be feared under 
the auspices of Cesar,' may not the Christian say, There is 
no despair under the guardianship of Messiah the King? 

But, fellow-citizens, though clothed with the whole pano- 
ply of heaven, and headed by the Captain of Salvation, there 
is-no success in this war to be expected, without constant 
and incessant prayer. When the Apostles began to build 
up this kingdom, notwithstanding all the gifts they enjoyed, 
they found it necessary to devote themselves to prayer as 
well as to the ministry of the word. And when Paul de- 
scribes all the armor of God, piece by piece, in putting it on 
he says, 'Take the Sword of the Spirit — with all supplica- 
tion and deprecation, pray at all seasons in spirit, watch 
with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.' 

This was most impressively and beautifully pictured out 
in the wars of ancient Israel against their enemies. While 
Moses lifted up his holy hands to heaven, Israel prevailed; 
and when he did not, Amalek prevailed. So is it now. 
When the disciples of Christ, the heaven born citizens of the 
kingdom, continue instant in prayer and watchfulness, the 
truth triumphs in their hearts and in the world. When they 
do not, they become cold, timid, and impotent as Sampson 
shorn, and the enemy gains strength over them. Then the 
good cause of the Lord languishes. 

It is not necessary that we should understand how prayer 
increases our zeal, our wisdom, our strength, our joy, or how 
it gives success to the cause, any more than that we should 
understand how our food is converted into flesh, and blood, 
and bones. It is only necessary that we eat; and it is only 
necessary that we should pray as we are taught and com- 
manded. Jfetperience proves that the outward man is re- 
newed day by day by our daily bread, and experience proves 
that the inward man is renewed day by day by prayer and 
thanksgiving. The Lord has promised his Holy Spirit to 
them that ask him in truth; and is it not necessary to our 
success? If it be not necessary to give new revelations, it is 
necessary to keep in mind those already given, and to bring 
the word written seasonably to our remembrance. Besides, 
i( the Spirit of the Lord was necessary to the success of 
Gideon and Barak, and Sampson and David, and all the 



352 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

great warriors of Israel according to the flesh, who fought the 
battles of the Lord with the sword, the sling, and the bow; 
who can say that it is not necessary to those who draw the 
Sword of the Spirit and fight the good fight of faith ? In my 
judgment it is as necessary now as then — necessary, I mean ? 
to equal success — necessary to the success of those who 
labor in the word and teaching, and necessary to those who 
would acquit themselves like men, in every department in 
the ranks of the great army of the Lord of hosts. 

Though the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but 
spiritual, they are mighty (only, however, through God, to 
the overturning of strong holds,) to the overturning of all 
reasonings against the truth, and every high thing raised 
up against the knowledge of God, and in leading captive 
every thought to the obedience of Christ, Let us then, fel- 
low-citizens, whether as leaders or as private soldiers, abound 
in prayer and supplications to God night and day. If sin- 
cere, and ardent, and incessant prayers to God for every 
thing that he has promised; for all things for which the 
Apostles prayed were offered up by all the congregations^ 
and by every disciple in his family and in his closet, for the 
triumphs of the truth, then would we see the army of the 
Lord successful in fight against atheism, infidelity, and sec- 
tarianism—then would we see disciples growing in know- 
ledge and in favor with God and man. And is not the conver- 
sion of the world and our own eternal salvation infinitely 
worthy of all the effort and enterprize in man, seeing God 
himself has done so much in the gift of his Son and Holy 
Spirit, and left for us so little to do — nothing, indeed, but 
what is in the compass of our power? And shall we withhold 
that little, especially as he has given us so many and so ex- 
ceedingly great and precious promises to stimulate us to ex- 
ertion ? Has not Jesus said, 'The conqueror shall inherit all 
things' — that he 'will not blot his name out of the book of 
life' — that he will confess it before his Father and his holy 
angels — that he will place him 'upon his throne, and give 
him the crown of life that shall never fade away'? 

Rise up, then, in the strength of Judah's Lion! Be va- 
liant for the truth! Adorn yourselves with all the graces of 
the Spirit of God! Put on the armor of light: and, with all 
the gentleness , and meekness, and mildness there is in Christ 
— with all the courage, and patience, and zeal, and effort, 
worthy of a cause so salutary, so pure, so holy, and so 
divine, determine never to faint nor to falter till you enter 
the pearly gates — never to lay down your arms, till, with the 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 353 

triumphant millions, you stand before the throne, and ex- 
ulting sing, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive 
power, and riches, and wisdom, and might, and honor, and 
glory, and blessing!"— "To Him who sits upon the throne, 
and to the Lamb be blessing, and honor, and glory and 
strength forever and forever!" Amen. 

A WORD TO FRIENDLY ALIENS. 

Whether to regard you in the light of Proselytes of the 
Gate, who refused circumcision, but wished to live in the 
land of Israel, to be in the suburbs of the cities of Judah, 
and to keep some of the institutions of the ancient kingdom 
of God, without becoming fellow-citizens of that kingdom ; or 
whether to regard you as the Samaritans of old, who built for 
themselves a temple of God upon Mount Gerizim, held fast 
a part of the ancient revelation of God, and rejected only 
such parts of it as did not suit their prejudices — worshipped 
the God of Israel in common with the idols of the nations, 
from which they sprang — 1 say, whether to regard you in 
the light of the one or the other of those ancient professors of 
religion, might require more skill in casuistry than we pos- 
sess — more ieisure than we have at our disposal — and more 
labor than either of us have patience to endure. One thing, 
however, is obvious, that if, under the Reign of Heaven it be- 
hooved so good a man as Cornelius (<a man of piety, and one 
that feared God with all his house, giving also much alms to 
the people, and praying to God continually,') to 'hear words 
by which he might be saved? and to put on Christ by immer- 
sion into his death, that he might enter the kingdom of 
heaven, and enjoy the remission of sins, and the hope of an 
inheritance among all the sanctified — certainly it is both 
expedient and necessary that you also go and do likewise. 

Every sectarian in the land, how honest and pious soever, 
ought to bury his sectarianism, and all his other sins of 
omission and commission, in 'the bath of regeneration.'' It 
is a high crime and misdemeanor in any man, professing to 
have received the Messiah in his proper person, character, 
and office, to refuse allegiance to him in any thing; and to 
substitute human inventions and traditions in lieu of the 
ordinances and statutes of Prince Immanuel. Indeed, the 
keeping up of any dogma, practice, or custom, which direct- 
ly or indirectly supplants the constitution, laws, and usages 
of the kingdom over which Jesus presides, is directly oppo- 

30* 



&54 TEE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

sed to his government ; and would ultimate in dethroning 
him in favor of a rival, and in placing upon his throne the 
author of that dogma, practice, or usage which supplants the 
institution of the Saviour of the world. 

It is to you, then, who, in the name of the King, are 
changing his ordinances, and substituting your own ex- 
pedients for the wisdom and authority of the Judge of all, 
we now propose the following considerations: — 

Every kingdom has one uniform law or institution for 
naturalizing aliens; and that institution, of whatever sort it 
be, is obligatory by the authority of the government, upon 
every one who would become a citizen. We say it is obli- 
gatory upon him who desires to be a citizen to submit to 
that institution. But does not your practice and your dogma 
positively say that it is not the duty of an alien to be born 
again, but that it is the duty of his father or guardian to 
have him naturatized? Now, although many things are in 
common the duty of brother, father, and child, yet those 
duties which belong specifically to a father cannot belong 
to his child, either in religion, morality, or society. If it 
be the fathers duty to 'offer his child to the Lord,' to speak 
in your own style, it is not the duty of the child to offer 
himself, it was not Isaac's duty to be circumcised, but 
Abraham's duty to circumcise him. l\, then, it was your 
father's duty to have made you citizens of the kingdom of 
heaven, it is not your duty to become citizens, unless you 
can produce a law saying that in all cases where the father 
fails to do his duty, then it shall be the duty of the child to 
do that which his father neglected. 

Again — if all fathers, like yours, had, upon their own 
responsibility, without any command from the Lord, bap- 
tized their children, there would not be one in a nation to 
whom it could be said, 'Repent and be baptized:' much less 
could it be said to every penitent, 'Be baptized, every one 
of you, by the authority of the Lord, for the remission of 
sins.' These remarks are only intended to show that your 
institutions do, in truth, go to the subversion of the govern- 
ment of Christ, and to the entire abolition of the institutions 
of his kingdom. On this account alone, if for no other 
reason, you ought to be constitutionally naturalized, and be 
legally and honorably inducted into the kingdom of heaven. 
It is a solemn duty you owe the King and his government; 
and if you have a conscience formed by the oracles of God, 
you can have no confidence in God, nor real peace of mind, 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 355 

so long as you give your support, your countenance, exam- 
ple, and entire influence to break down the institutions of 
Jesus Christ, to open his kingdom to all that is born of the 
flesh, and to prevent, as far as you can, every man from the 
pleasure of choosing whom he shall obey — of confessing him 
before men — of taking on his yoke — of dying, being buried, 
and raised with Christ in his gracious institution. Jf Jesus 
himself, for the sake of fulfilling all righteousness, or of 
honoring every divine institution, though he needed not the 
reformation for the remission which John preached, was 
immersed by John — what have you to say for yourselves — 
you who would claim the honors and privileges of the king- 
dom of heaven, refusing to follow the example of Jesus, and 
who virtually subvert hi3 authority by supporting a system 
which would, if carried out, not allow a voluntary agent in 
all the race of Adam, to do that which all the first converts 
to Christ did, by authority of the commission which Jesus 
gave to all his Apostles? 

Again — whatever confidence you may now possess, that 
you are good citizens of the* kingdom of the Messiah, that 
confidence is not founded upon a "thus saith the lord," 
but upon your own reasonings, which all men must acknow- 
ledge may be in this, as in many other things, fallacious, 
Jesus has said, 'He that believes and is immersed shall be 
saved;' and Peter commanded every penitent to be immers- 
ed for the remission of his sins. Now he who hears the 
word, believes it, and is on his own confession immersed, 
has an assurance, a confidence, which it is impossible for 
you to have. 

Let me add only another consideration, for we are not 
now arguing the merits of you? theory, or that of any party: 
it is your duty, as you desire the union of (what you call) the 
church, and the conversion of the world, forthwith to be im- 
mersed and be born constitutionally into the kingdom,- be- 
cause all Protestants, of every name, if sincere believers in 
Jesus as the Christ, irrespective of every opinion found in 
any human creed, could, if they would, honor and obey his 
institutions, come into one fold, and sit down together under 
the reign of the Messiah. If all would follow your example, 
this would necessarily follow; if they do not, you have done 
your duty. In being thus immersed, all the world, Catholic 
and Protestant, admit that you are truly and scripturally 
baptized; for all admit that an immersed penitent is consti- 
tutionally baptized into Christ; but only a part of the pro- 



356 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

fessing world can admit that rite of infant affusion, on which 
you rely, as introducing you, without previous knowledge, 
faith, or repentance, into the family of God. Acquit, then, 
your conscience; follow the example of Jesus; honor and 
support his authority; promote the union and peace of the 
family of God; do what in you lies for the conversion of the 
world; enter into the full enjoyment of the blessings of the 
kingdom of heaven by confessing the ancient faith, and by 
being immersed in the name of Jesus into the name of the 
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, for the re- 
mission of sins. Then you may say as Jesus said to the 
Samaritan woman. iUthough the Samaritans have a tem- 
ple on Mount Gerizim, a priesthood, and the five books of 
Moses, 'Salvation is of the Jews.' Although the sects have 
the Oracles of God, human creeds, many altars, priests, and 
religious usages, the enjoyment of salvation is among them 
who simply believe what the Apostles wrote concerning 
Jesus, and who from the heart obey that mould of doctrine 
which the Apostles delivered to us. 

In so doing you will, moreover, most wisely consult your 
own safety and security from the signal calamities that are 
every day accumulating, and soon to fall with overwhelming 
violence on a distracted, divided, alienated, and adulterous 
generation. If you are Hhe people of God? as you profess, 
and as we would fain imagine, then you are commanded by 
a voice from heaven, 'Come out of her, my people, that you 
partake not of the sins of mystic Babylon, and that you 
receive not a portion of her plagues.'* If affliction, and 
shame, and poverty, and reproach were to be th© inalienable 
lot of the most approved servants of God, it is better, infi- 
nitely better for you to suffer with them, than to enjoy for a 
season all that a corrupted and apostate society can bestow 
upon you. Remember who it is that has said, 'Happy are 
they who keep his commandments, for they shall have a 
right to the tree of life, and they shall enter in through the 
gates into the city!' 

ADDRESS TO BELLIGERENT ALIENS. 

To him who, through the telescope of faith, surveys your 
camp, there appears not on the whole map of creation such 
a motley group, such a heterogeneous and wretched arnalga- 

* Revelation, chapter xviii , verses 4 and 5. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 357 

mation of distracted spirits, as are found in actual insurrec- 
tion and rebellion, in a mad and accursed alliance against 
the reigning Monarch of creation. In your lines are found 
every unclean and hateful spirit on this side the fathomless 
gulf, the dark and rayless receptacle of fallen and ruined 
intelligences, who, in endless and fruitless wailings, lament 
their own follies, and through an incessant night of despair 
anathematize themselves, and their coadjutors in the perpe- 
tration of their eternal suicide. Yes, in your ranks are 
found all who wilfully reject the Son of God, and will not 
have him to reign over them; whether they are styled the 
decent moralist, the honest deist, sceptic, atheist, infidel, the 
speculating Sadducee, the boasting Pharisee, the supercilious 
Jew, the resentful Samaritan, or the idolatrous Gentile. All 
ranks and degrees of men in political society — the king and 
the beggar — the sage philosopher and the uneducated clown 
— the rich and the poor, who disdain the precepts of the 
Messiah, unite with you in this unholy alliance against the 
kingdom of heaven. You may boast of many a decent fel- 
low-soldier in the crusade against immanuel; many who, 
when weighed la the balances of the political sanctuary, are 
not found wanting in all the decencies of this present life; 
but yet look at the innumerable crowds of every sort of 
wretches, down to the filthiest, vilest matricide, who m 
your communion are fighting under your banners — stout- 
hearted rebel's! — leagued with you in your attempts to 
dethrone the Lord's Anointed. If you boast of one Marcus 
Aurelius, you must fraternize with many a Nero, Domitian, 
Caligula, and Heliogabulus. if you rejoice in the virtues 
of one Seneca, you must own the vices of the ten thousand 
murderers, robbers, adulterers, drunkards, profane swearers, 
and lecherous debauchees, who have rejected the counsels of 
heaven, because the precepts of righteousness and life for- 
bade theit crimes. 

1^ then, my friends, (for 1 now address the most honorable 
of your community,) you boast that you belong to a very 
large and respectable synagogue; remember, I pray you, 
that to this same synagogue in which you have your broth- 
erhood, belongs every thing mean, and vile, and wretched, 
in every land where the name of Jesus has been announced. 
What a group! Have you so much of the reflex light of the 
gospel falling upon your vision, as to flush your cheek with 
the glow of shame when you look along the lines of your 
alliance, and survey the horrible faces, the ragged, and taU 



358 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

tered, and squalid, and filthy wretches, your companions in 
arms — members with you in the synagogue of Satan — arid 
confederates against the Prince of Peace! If you cannot 
blush at such a spectacle, you are not among them to whom 
I would tender the pearls of Jesus Christ. 

What do you then say? "1 am ashamed of such an alli- 
ance — of such a brotherhood; and therefore 1 have joined 
the Temperance Society — I belong to the Literary Club — 
and I carry my family regularly to church every Sunday/' 
And do you think, O simpleton ! that these human inventions, 
which only divide the kingdom of Satan into casts, and form 
within it various private communions, honorable and dis- 
honorable associations, learned and unlearned fraternities, 
moral and immoral conventicles, change the state of a single 
son of Adam as respects the Son of God!! Then may Whig 
and Tory, Masonic and Antimasonic clubs and conclaves — 
then may every political cabal, for the sake of elevating 
some demagogue, change the political relations in the state, 
and make and unmake American citizens according to fancy, 
in despite of constitution, law, and established precedents. 
No, sir; should there be as many parties in the state, as 
there are days in a month, membership in any one of these 
affects not, in the least, the standing of any man as a citizen 
in relation to the United States, or to any foreign power. 
And by parity of reason, as well as by all that is written in 
the New Testament, should you join all the benevolent soci- 
eties on the chequered map of Christendom, and fraternize 
with every brotherhood born afterthe voillof man, this would 
neither change nor destroy your citizenship in the kingdom 
of Satan — still you would be an alien from the kingdom of 
the Messiah — a foreigner as respects all its covenanted bles- 
sings—and, in the unbiassed judgment of the universe, 
you would stand enrolled amongst its enemies. 

In character there are many degrees, as respects any and 
every attribute which enters into its formation; but as re- 
spects state there are no degrees. In the nature of things it 
19 impossible. Every man is either married or single, a 
brother, a master, a citizen, or he is not. Every man is 
either Christ's or Belial's; there is no middle power, and 
therefore no neutral state. Hence the King himself, when 
on the present theatre of war, told his companions to regard 
every man as his enemy, who was not on his side. Amongst 
his professed friends they, who in works deny him, are even 
counted as enemies. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 359 

What a hopeless struggle is that in which you are en- 
gaged! Discomfiture, soon or late, awaits you. Have you 
counsel aud strength to oppose the Sovereign of the Uni- 
verse? Do you think you can frustrate the counsels of Infi- 
nite Wisdom and overcome Omnipotence? Your master is 
already a prisoner — your chief is in chains. The fire of 
eternal vengeance is already kindled for Satan and all his 
subjects. Mad in his disappointed ambition, and implacable 
in his hatred of him against whom he rebelled, he only seeks 
to gratify his own malice, by involving with himself in irre- 
mediable ruin the unhappy victims of his seduction. He only 
seeks to desolate the dominions of God, and to ruin forever 
his fellow-creatures. Will you, then, serve your worst ene- 
my, and war against your best friend? 

But your rebellion can effect nothing against God. His 
arm is too strong for the whole creation. You cannot defeat 
his counsels nor stay his almighty hand. The earth on 
which you stand trembles at his rebuke,- the foundations of 
the hills and mountains are moved and shaken at his pres- 
ence. You fight against yourselves. God's detestation of 
your course arises not from any apprehension that you can 
injure him; but because you destroy yourselves. Every 
triumph which your inordinate desires and passions gain 
over the remonstrances of reason and conscience, only pre- 
cipitates you into deeper and deeper misery, matures you for 
perdition, and makes it essential to the good order and hap- 
piness of the universe, that you should suffer an 'everlasting 
destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glo- 
ry of his power,' 

What, then, infatuates you, that you should choose death 
rather than life, and prefer destruction to salvation? "I am 
not sure that the gospel is true; I love my companions, and 
cannot see any criminality in gratifying those passions and 
appetites, which my creator has planted in my constitution." 

You admit there is a God, your Creator; but you doubt 
whether the gospel is true! What an abuse of reason and 
evidence! Can you infer from any premises in your pos- 
session, that he, whose creation man is, who has exhibited 
to the eye and ear of man so much wisdom, power, and good- 
ness, in all his grand designs already accomplished, and 
daily accomplishing, in the heavens and in the earth, teach- 
ing men to sustain the present life, to anticipate the future, 
and to provide for it, has never intelligibly addressed him 
on a subject of incomparably more importance — his own 



360 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

ultimate destiny! That God should have been at so much 
pains to elevate man in nature — to furnish him with such 
an organization — to bestow on him reason and speech — ad- 
mirably qualifying him to acquire and communicate in- 
struction, on all things necessary to his present animal en- 
joyments; and, at the same time, to have never communi- 
cated to him any thing relative to his intellectual nature— 
never to have addressed him on the themes, which, as a 
rational creature, he must necessarily most of all desire to 
know; to have done every thing for his body, and for the 
present — and nothing for his mind, nor for the future — is, 
to say the least of it, the most improbable conceit that the 
most lomantic fancv can entertain. 

That the Creator could not enlighten him on these topics? 
is wholly inadmissable. That he could, and would not, is 
directly contrary to every analogy in creation- — contradic- 
tory to every proof we have of his benevolence, an inex- 
plicable exception to the whole order of his government: 
for he has provided objects for every sense — -objects for eve- 
ry intellectual power — objects for every affection, honora- 
ble passion, appetite, and propensity, in our constitution; 
but, on your hypothesis, he has only failed in that which is 
infinitely more dear to us, more consonant to our whole ra- 
tional nature, and most essential to our happiness!! It is 
most contrary to reason. 

But the folly of your scepticism is still more glaring 
when we open the book of the gospel of salvation. In the 
history of Jesus you have the fulfilment of a thousand pre- 
dictions, expressed by numerous Prophets, for 1500 years 
before he was born. These recorded prophecies were in 
the possession of his and our most bitter enemies, when -he 
appeared, and are still extant in their hands. How can you 
dispose of these? All antiquity confirms the existence of 
Jesus of Nazareth in the times of Augustus and Tiberius 
Cesar. No contemporary opponent denied his miracles: 
they explained them away, but questioned not the wonder- 
ful works which he wrought. His character was the only 
perfect and unexceptionable one the world ever saw, either 
in print, or in real life; and yet you imagine him to have 
been the greatest liar and most infamous imposter that ever 
lived. You must admit him to have been the teacher of 
every thing moral, and pure, and godlike — to have lived the 
most exemplary life — to have employed his whole life in 
.doing good — while, to countenance your scepticism, vow 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 381 

must imagine him to have been the greatest deceiver, and 
most blasphemous pretender the world ever saw! Truly,, 
you are fond of paradox! 

His Apostles, too, for the sake of being accounted the off- 
scourings of the world, and the filth of all society — for the 
sake of poverty, contumely, stripes, imprisonment, and mar- 
tyrdom, you imagine travelled over the earth teaching virtue 
and holiness — discountenancing every species of vice and 
immorality, while telling the most impudent lies, and that 
too about matters of palpable fact, about which no man 
having eyes and ears could be mistaken! How great your 
credulity ! How weak your faith ! 

And to consummate the whole, you admit that in the 
most enlightened age, and amongst the most disputatious 
and discriminating population, both Jewish, Roman, and 
Grecian, in Jerusalem itself, the very theatre of the cruci- 
fixion of Christ, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and in all 
the great towns and cities of the whole ancient Roman Em- 
pire, Eastern and Western, these rude and uncultivated 
Galileans did actually succeed in persuading hundreds of 
thousands of persons, of all ranks, sexes, ages, and intellects, 
to renounce their former opinions and practices— to encoun- 
ter proscription, confiscation of goods, banishment, and even 
death itself in numerous instances, through faith in their 
testimony, while every thing was fresh, and when the de- 
tection of any fiction or fraud was most easy ! 

Now, if it were possible to place your folly in an attitude 
still more inexcusable, I would ask you to show what there 
is in the gospel, that is not infinitely worthy of God to be- 
stow, and of man to receive? And where under the canopy 
of the skies, in any country, language, or age of time, is 
there any thing that confers greater honor on man, or pro- 
poses to him any thing more worthy of his acceptance, than 
the gospel? 

Can there have been a more acceptable model proposed, 
after which to fashion man, than that after which he was 
originally created? When he was beguiled and apostatized 
from God, could there have been deputed a more honorable 
personage to effect his reconciliation to God, than his only 
begotten and well beloved Son? And could there even be 
imagined a more delectable destiny allotted to man, than an 
immortality of bliss in the palace of this vast universe, in 
the presence of his Father and his God forever and forever? 
Now, with all these premises, will you object to this religion, 

31 



362 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

that it requires a man to be pure and holy, in order to his 
enjoyment of this eternal salvation? Then Jay your hand 
upon your face, and blush, and be ashamed forever! 

But you say you love your companions! And who are 
they? Your fellow-rebels, foolish and infatuated like your- 
selves. The drunkard, the thief, the murderer, love their 
companions, the partners of their crimes. Conspirators and 
partizans in any undertaking, kindred spirits in guilty and 
daring enterprize, confirm each other in their evil machina- 
tions, and either from mutual interest, or from some hateful 
affinity in evil dispositions, coalesce and league together in 
bands of malicious depredation. A Cataline, a Jugurtha, a 
Robespierre, had their confederates. The rakes, the liber- 
tines, the freebooters of every color, form their own frater- 
nities, and have a liking of some sort for their companions,. 
And wherein does your attachment to your companions 
differ from theirs? A congeniality of disposition, a simi- 
larity of likings and dislikings, all springing from your love 
of the world, and your dislike of the authority of the Messiah. 
And will not a change of circumstances convert your atTec 
tion into hatred? Soon or late, if you do not repent and 
turn to God, you that are leagued in the friendships of the 
world, those friendships arising from the lusts of the flesh, 
the lusts of the eye, and the pride of life, will not only be- 
come enemies, but mutual tormentors of one another. Your 
warmest friends in your opposition to the Son of God will 
become King's evidence against you, and exasperate the 
flame that will consume you forever and ever. Break off, 
then, every friendship, alliance, and covenant, which you 
have formed with them that disdain the grace of God, and 
contemn the Saviour of the world, and form an everlasting 
covenant with the people of God, which shall never be for- 
gotten. Then, indeed, you may love your companions with 
all the affection of your hearts, and indulge to the utmost 
every sympathy and social feeling of your nature. Then 
may you embrace, in all the ardor of fraternal love, those 
kindred spirits, that with you have vowed eternal allegiance 
to the gracious and rightful Sovereign of all the nations 
of the redeemed, in heaven and on earth. Such companions 
are worth possessing, and their friendship worth cultivating 
and preserving through all the journey of life; for it will be 
renewed beyond the Jordan, and flourish with increasing de- 
light through the endless ages of eternity. 

But you have said that the gratification of all the impulses 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 363 

and propensities of your nature must be innocent, because 
they are the creation of God , and were sown in the embryo 
of your physical constitution. If under the control of that 
light and reason, under which God commanded your affec- 
tions and appetites to move, your reasoning would be 
sound and safe; but if they have usurped a tyranny over 
your judgment, and captivated your reason, they are not to 
be gratified. They are like successful rebels that have de- 
throned their sovereign; and, because by violence and fraud 
in possession of the throne, they plead a divine right to 
wield the sceptre over their dethroned Prince. Such is the 
meaning of the plea, which you urge in favor of your rebel- 
lious affections. When man rebelled against his Creator, 
the beasts of the field, till then under his dominion, rebelled 
against him; and all his passions, affections, and propensities 
partook of the general disorder — of that wild and licentious 
anarchy which ensued upon man's disobedience. And have 
you not in your daily observation — nay, have you not ia 
you own experience, irrefragable evidence that the uncon- 
trolled indulgence of even the instinctive appetites, as well 
as the gratification of inordinate passions and affections, 
necessarily issue in the destruction of the physical constitu- 
tion of man ? Is not the control of reason, is not the exercise 
of discretion in the licence of every animal indulgence, 
essential to the health and life of man? Then why crave an 
exemption from the universal law of human existence, in 
favor of that demoralizing course of indulgence, which you 
would fain call innocent in morals, though in physics evi- 
dently destructive to animal organization? 

When reconciled to God through the gospel, the peace of 
God which passes understanding reigning in the heart, all is 
order and harmony within. Then, under the control of en- 
lightened and sanctified reason, all the passions, appetites, 
and instincts of our nature, like the planets round the sun, 
move in their respective orbits in the most perfect, good 
order, preserving a perfect balance in all the principles and 
powers of human action. Pleasures without alloy are then 
felt and enjoyed from a thousand sources, from which, in the 
tumult and disorder of rebellion, every transgressor is debar- 
red. It is then found, that there is not a supernumerary 
passion, affection, nor appetite in man — not one that adds 
not something to his enjoyment — not one that may not be 
made an instrument of righteousness, a means of doing good 
to others, as well as of enjoying good ourselves. W T hy not, 



364 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

then, lay down the weapons of your rebellion, and be at 
peace with God, with your fellow-creatures, and with your- 
selves? 

''Admitting, then, that the gospel is true — that in my 
present state and standing I am an alien from the kingdom 
of heaven, and that I wished to become a citizen, where 
shall I find this kingdom of heaven, and how shall I be con- 
stituted a citizen thereof?" Well, indeed, may you admit 
the gospel to be true, both on account of what it is in itself, 
and the evidence which sustains it. Only suppose it to be 
false — extinguish all the light which it sheds on the human 
race — make void all its promises — annul all its hopes — 
eradicate from the human breast all the motives which it 
imparts; and what remains to explain the universe, to de- 
veiope the moral character of God, to dissipate the gloom 
which envelopes in eternal night the destiny of man, to 
solace and cheer him during the incessant struggle of life, 
to soothe the bed of affliction and death, and to countervail 
that inward dread and horror of falling into nothing — of 
being forever lost in the promiscuous wreck of nature — of 
sinking down into the grave, the food of worms, the prey of 
an eternal death? 

It is like annihilating the sun in the heavens. An eter- 
nal night ensues. There is no beauty, form, nor comeliness 
in creation. The universe is in ruins. The world without 
the Bible, is a universe without a sun. The Atheist is but 
an atom of matter in motion, belonging to no system, ame- 
nable to none, without a destiny, without an object to live or 
to die. He boasts there is none to punish him: but then 
there is none to help him — none to reward him. He has 
no Father, proprietor, or ruler — no filial affection, no sense 
of obligation, no gratitude, no comfort in reflection, no joy 
in anticipation. If he cannot be blamed, he cannot be 
praised— if he cannot be praised, he cannot be honored— 
and man without honor is more wretched than the beasts 
that perish. Unenviable mortal! 

What an abortion is the system of nature, if man lives 
not again! It is a creation for the sake of destruction. It 
is an infinite series of designs, ending in nothing. It is a 
universe of blanks, without a single prize. It cannot be. 
The Bible is necessary to the interpretation of nature. It 
is the only comment on nature — on providence — on man. 
Man without it, and without the hope of immortality, has 
nothing to rouse him into action. He is a savage, a Hotten- 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 365 

tot, a cannibal, a worm. You are compelled, then, to ad- 
mit that the gospel is true, unless -you put out the eye of 
Reason, and refuse to hear the voice of Nature. 

But is it not a happy necessity which compels your belief 
in God, and in his Son the renovator of the Universe? Ji 
opens to you all the mysteries of creation, the arcana of 
the temple of nature, and inducts you to the fountain of 
being and of bliss. It inspires you with motives of high 
and lofty enterprize, stimulates you to manly action, and 
points out a prize worthy of the best efforts of body, soul, 
and spirit. Is it not, then, 'a credible saying, and worthy 
of universal acceptance, that Jesus Christ came into the 
world to save sinners, even the chief?' 

But you ask, 'Where shall the kingdom of heaven be 
found, and how may you be constituted a citizen of it?' 
The Frcphets and Apostles must be your guide in deciding 
these great questions. Moses in the law, all the Prophets, 
and all the Apostles point you to the Lamb of God that 
takes away the sin of the world — the Apostle of the Father 
Almighty — the divinely constituted Chief of the kingdom 
of heaven. He has submitted his claims to your examina- 
tion — he has invited you to test all his pretensions — and 
to the humble and docile he has tendered all necessary as- 
sistance, in deciding upon his person and mission . 

His character is so familiar, so condescending, so full 
of all grace and goodness, that all may approach him. The 
halt, the maimed, the deaf, the dumb, the blind, found in 
him a friend and physician indeed. None importunes his 
aid in vain. His ears are always open to the tale of wee. 
His eye streams with sympathy on every object of distress. 
He invites all the wretched, and repulses none who implore 
relief. He chides only the proud, and kindly receives and 
blesses the humble. He invites and beseeches the weary, 
the heavy laden, the broken hearted, the oppressed, and all 
the sons of want and misfortune to come to h'im, and tenders 
relief to all. 

In his official dignity he presides over the universe. 
He is the High Priest of God and the Prophet and Messen- 
ger of Peace. He has the key of David ; he opens and shuts 
the Paradise of God. He is the only Potentate, and has the 
power of granting remission of all sins to all who obey him. 
To receive him m his personal glory and official dignity 
and supremacy, as the Messiah of God, the only begotten 
of the Father — to know him in his true and proper character, 

31* 



38G THE CHEISTIAN SYSTEM. 

is the only prerequisite to the obedience of faith. He that 
thus accredits him is not far from the kingdom of heaven. 
To assume him as your Prophet, your High Priest, and 
your King; to submit to him in these relations, being im- 
mersed into his death, will translate you into the kingdom 
of heaven. Why not, then, gladly and immediately yield 
him the admiration of your understanding, and the homage 
of yourheart? Why not now enter into the possession of all 
the riches, and fulness, and excellence of the kingdom? He 
commands all men to repent — he beseeches every sinner 
whom he addresses in his word, to receive pardon and eter- 
nal life as a gracious gift. 

Can you doubt his power to save, to instruct, and to sanc- 
tify you for heaven? Can you doubt his condescending 
mercy and compassion? Will not he that pitied the blind 
Bartimeus, that condoled with the widow of Nain, that wept 
with Mary and Martha at the grave of Lazarus, that heard 
the plea of the Syrophenician woman, that cleansed the 
supplicating leper, that compassionated the famishing mul- 
titudes, and looked with pity (even in the agonies of the 
cross) upon an importuning thief, have pity upon you, and 
every returning prodigal, who sues for mercy at the gate of 
his kingdom? 

Js there in the uniVerse, one whom you can believe with 
more assurance, than the Faithful and True Witness, who, 
in the presence of Pontius Pilate, witnessed a good confes- 
sion at the hazard of his life? Is there any person in 
heaven, on earth, or under the earth, more worthy of your 
confidence, than the sinner's friend — than he who, always, 
and in all circumstances, bore testimony to the truth? When 
did he ever violate his word, or suffer his promise to fail? 
Who ever repented of his confidence in Jesus, or of relying 
implicitly upon his word? Who ever was put to shame be- 
cause of confidence in him? 

Who can offer such inducements to obedience to his au- 
thority as the Saviour of the world? Who has such power 
to bless? He has all authority in heaven and on earth. 
He has power to forgive sins, to raise the dead, to bestow 
immortality and eternal life, and to judge the living and the 
dead. And has he not tendered a participation oi his official 
authority to every one who submits to his government, and 
who, by him, is reconciled to God ? If he have wisdom and 
power divine, has he not pledged these to the relief, guidance, 
and benefit of his people? Who can injure them under his 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 387 

protection — condemn whom he justifies — criminate whom 
he pardons — or snatch out of his hands, those who betake 
themselves to his mercy? 

Was there ever love like his love — compassion !ike his 
compassion — or condescension like his condescension! 
Who ever could — who ever did humble himself like the 
Son of God? On whose cheek ever flowed tears of purer 
sympathy for human woe, than those he shed? Whose 
bowels ever moved with such compassion, as that which 
dissolved his heart in tender mercies for the afflicted sons 
and daughters of men? Who ever for his friends, endured 
such contradiction of sinners against himself; submitted to 
such indignities; sustained such accumulated sorrows and 
griefs; suffered such agonies of mind and body; as those 
which he endured in giving his life an offering for his ene- 
mies? Forsaken by his God, abandoned by his friends, de> 
serted of every stay, surrounded by the fiercest enemies, 
the most implacable foes, whose hearts were harder than ad- 
amant, insulting the very pangs which they inflicted, he ex- 
pired on the accursed tree! The heavens blushed at the 
sight — the sun covered his face — the earth trembled— the 
rocks split — the veil of the temple was rent from top to bot- 
tom— and graves opened. All nature stood horror-stricken, 
when Roman soldiers, urged by blood-thirsty priests, nailed 
him to the cross— when the chief priests, scribes, and elders 
in derision said, 4 He saved others: cannot he save himself?' 
The person who perceives not, who feels not the eloquence 
of his love consummated in his death — the tenderness of 
his entreaties and expostulations, is not to be reasoned with 
— is not to be moved by human power. Will you not, then, 
honor your reason by honoring the Son of God — by giving 
up your understanding, your wills, your affections, to the 
teachings of the Good Spirit — to the guidance of his love ? 
Then, and only then, can you feel yourselves safe, secure, 
and happy. 

Need you to be reminded how much you are indebted to 
his long suffering patience already — to his benevolence in 
all the gifts and bounties of his providence vouchsafed to 
you? How many days and nights has he guarded, sustain- 
ed, and succored you Has he not saved you from ten 
thousand dangers — from the pestilence that walks in dark- 
ness secretly, and from destruction that wastes at noon day? 
Who can tell but he has lengthened out your unprofitable 
xistence to this very hour, that you might now repent of 



368 TUB CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

all your sins, turn to God with your whoie heart, be baptiz*ed 
for the remission of your past transgressions, be adopted 
into the family of God, and yet receive an inheritance 
among the sanctified, Arise, then, in the strength of Israel's 
God— accept salvation at his hands — -enter into his king- 
dom, and be for ever blessed. You will not, you cannot 
repent of such a step, of such a noble surrender of yourself 
while life endures; in the hour of death, in the day of judg- 
ment, nor during the endless succession of ages in eternity. 
To- day, then, hear his voice: to-morrow maybe for ever 

too late! All things are ready -Come.- -Saints on 

earth, and angels in heaven — apostles, prophets, and mar- 
tyrs will rejoice over you — and you will rejoice with them 
forever and for ever.-— Amen ! 



Index. 



A 

Abraham, - 139 

Address to Belligerent Aliens, 336 

Citizens of the Kingdom, .... 345 

Ascension of the Messiah, 176 

Attributes of a real Sin-ottering, 46 

B 

Baptist, 238 

Baptism, --------- 57 

Action of, 57 

Subject of, 59 

Meaning of, ------- 59 

Barnabas, - - - 228 

Bible, 15 

Blessing of Abraham, - - 143 

Breaking the Loaf, 313 

Proposition 1. - - - - - - 314 

" 11. 315 

" in. - 317 

" iv. - 318 

« v. ----- 319 

" vi. 322 

" vii. 323 

, Body of Christ, 75 

Christ the Light of the World, - 51 

Christian Ministry, 80 

Hope, - 69 

Discipline, 88 

Christians are persons pardoned, &c 64 

Clement and Hermas, 229 

Concluding Addresses, 345 

Confession of Faith, -- 60 

Confirmation of the Testimony, 121 

Conversion, --- 62 

Coronation of the Messiah, 177 

Covenant of Circumcision, 140 

Cyprian, - - - 234 

D 

Defects of Modern Christianity, 255 

Discipline, --- 88 

Doom of the Wicked, 71 



If INDEX. 

E 

Effects of Modem Christianity, - 255 

Episcopalian, -------- 235 

Expediency, 94 

F 

Fact, 114 

Faith, ----- 118 

Faith in Christ, 54 

Foundation of Christian Union, 109 

Fundamental Fact, - - - - - - - 126 

G 

Gift of the Holy Spirit, - 66 

God, - - - - 19 

Son of, ' - - 22 

Spirit of, - 24 

H 

Heresy, 99 

1 

Immersion not a mere Bodily Act, - 257 

J 

Jewish Institution, - - - - - - - 144 

Justification ascribed to Seven Causes, ... 258 

Justin Martyr. - 231 

K 

Kingdom of Heaven, - - - - . . . 133 

Coming of, J88 

Constitution of, - - - - - 15? 

Elements of, - 154 

Induction into, 167 

King of, 160 

Laws of, - 163 

Manners and Customs of, - - - - 166 

Name of, - 155 

Present Administration of, - - - » 179 

Subjects of, 161 

Territory of, 165 

L 

Lordship of the Messiah, ------ 52 

M 

Man as he was, -------- 26 

Man as he is, - - - 28 

Methodist, - - - - - - - - - 237 

N 

New Birth, 276 

Life, - - - 278 

O 

Orio-en, - - 233 

P 

Patriarchal Age of the World, 133 

Peter in Jerusalem and Paul in Philippi, reconciled, - 260 



INDEX. Ill 

Philosophic Doctrines, 129 

Preface, 3 

Preface to Second Edition, 12 

Presbyteiian, - - - - ■ ■ ■ - - - - 237 

Purity of Speech, l-2> 

Purposes of God concerning Man, - 30 

Physical Regeneration, 280 

R 

Reformation, 268 

Regeneration, - - 62 — 272 

Regeneration, Extra on, 261 

Bath of, 273 

of the Church, 284 

Heaven and the Earth, - 304 

World, 303 

Physical, ------ 280 

Use of the Theory of, - 282 

Religion for Man, ------- 35 

Remission of Sins, 187 

Proposition 1. ------189 

" 11. 190 

" in 191 

" iv. 192 

" v. 192 

" vi. 193 

6 ° vii. 198 

" viii. 200 

" ix. 202 

" x. ----- - 207 

" xi. 227 

" xii. - - 235 

Conclusion of, - - - - - 247 

Recapitulation, -- §45 

Renewing of the Holy Spirit, - - - - - 2 w 77 
Repentance, ----«,-. 55 — 265 

Rules of Interpretation. 16 

S 

Sacrifice for Sin, ------- 36 

Sin-OrTering, - 46 

Sinai tic Covenant, - - . - - - - - 141 

Son of God, -------- 22 

Spirit of God, •> 24 

Summary of Christian Facts, ----- 73 

T 

Tertullian, --------- 232 

Testimony, ----116 

Confirmation of the, 121 

Three Dispensations, ------- 133 

Two Promises, 140 

Seeds, 142 



IV INDEX. 

U 

Universe, - - 13 

W 

Wall Dr. W. Testimony of, 230 

Wesley John, Testimony of, - 240—336 

Word to Friendly Aliens, ------ 35 

Word to Moral Regenerators, - - . - - . - 304 



E R R A TA . 

After is read in, line 41, page 7; for knowledge read power, line 
12, page 20; after Creator read knowledge, line 26, page 20; after 
wisdom read and goodness, line 9, page 31; for would read could, 
line 5, page 41; for applied read implied, line 21, page 43; for 
life read light, line 8, page 52; for thereat read therein, line 25, page 
56; after Jesus read Son of, line 10, page 61; for Apostle read Apos- 
tles, line 28, page 66; for were read being, line 16, page 76; for 
were read was, line 37, page 82; for sentiments read statements, 
line 2, page 90. 



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